In all my years of writing, my biggest problem has been simply getting started. Once I am at my desk, or wherever I can get my laptop open, the writing usually comes easy. So, what’s stopping me? Why do I struggle with what should be the easiest act, just sitting down and starting to write?
Part of it comes from putting my writing time on a pedestal. What I mean by that is I would see it as this sacred thing that needed to be done just right. I’d have to be at my desk, and my desk alone, with a mug of coffee and the right music playing. Any other setting just wouldn’t do. This might work if you have access to these things regularly, but you won’t every time. It’s one thing to have a preferred work routine, but when preferences turn to necessities it becomes a problem, especially when these “necessities” are usually just excuses to not write. You need to set aside this notion of everything needing to be perfect for you to write. It took a while, but I figured it out. Now, along with at my desk, I can write on the couch, at coffee shops, and even on the train or bus. I’ll even sometimes go as far as pulling out my cellphone and doing some writing in the notes section. I took my writing route off it’s pedestal and treated it like something as common as eating or reading, and now I write more than ever before. However, this wasn’t the only thing getting in my way.
Writers are dreamers, with our vivid imaginations we tend to spend a lot of time spaced-out and in our heads. This is great for coming up with ideas, but it can be a detriment when too much time is spent wandering your own mind. At some point you have to go from your imagination to actually writing and getting the work done, and that step can be difficult. Thinking up your plot and characters is a lot of fun, but when you spend too much time there, it can make the writing part look scary. When brainstorming, your story is limitless, you have this picture of your novel in your head in it’s perfect form. But when you start writing that perfect form vanishes, because no matter how well you write, you’ll never write it as good as you pictured it to be. This will slow a lot of people down, it slowed me down, because you want to hold on to that perfect image of your novel as long as you can, because you know once you start writing it will fade. I want you to know that every author has doubts like this. They might be halfway through a masterpiece and wondering whether it is good enough. You’re going to have them too, and a lot. There will be times when you’re writing, and you’ll wonder whether you’re just typing out hot garbage. But that’s because you’re comparing it to that perfect story you envisioned when you first had the idea. Remember, just because it’s not as good as you imagined it, doesn’t mean it isn’t still great. So, as fun as picturing your novel is, only spend as much time there as needed. Get your ideas, then get to work.
Writing is hard, and there will be a lot of things that get in the way of you finishing your work. Don’t let yourself be one of those obstacles. Just start writing.