Do you want to get started but you're not sure how or where to begin?
Let me help.
People often ask me how to begin – with journaling, or establishing a regular writing practice for yourself, or perhaps even with working on a longer project (essay, chapter, novel, life-writing).
My answer is much more boring than you would probably expect or like it to be.
The way to begin is to begin.
But that’s the kind of smug and annoying advice that can leave you feeling really irritated if you’ve just spent all day procrastinating, stuck, or juggling three different jobs.
It often doesn’t feel that easy to just begin.
The sneaky trick I sometimes play on myself is to tell myself to just begin anyway. Just pick up a pen, make a dot somewhere on the page and begin to free write. You could start with the word begin and find out where it takes you. You could try my spiral writing technique to get yourself warmed up.
Notice your breathing. Focus on the rhythm of your hand moving across the page. Let some words emerge - in any way and any order. It’s not your job at this point to arrange the words. Just receive them. Let them come.
It doesn’t need to be perfect.
Don’t begin by striving for perfect.
Because perfect means editing as you go, selecting and shaping before you’ve even had a chance to find out what you feel or what you want to say.
Imagine what it would feel like to let yourself just be on the page. The way you are on the page could be tidy or messy, for five minutes or twenty. There’s no ‘right’ way to do this. Just your way.
Begin anyway.
Begin without having the perfect writing space, the right notebook, or enough time. (Honestly? You will probably never have enough time.)
Begin anyway.
Most importantly of all, let yourself begin in private. This writing is just for you. You’re not going to share this with anyone. You need a secret space where you can let yourself begin.
Of course, all of this is nothing you don’t already know. You’ve probably read it at least fifteen (fifty?) times before. Natalie Goldberg calls it ‘keeping the hand moving’. Don’t stop to edit or cross out. Just keep writing.
Let’s decide to just begin. Privately. Quietly. Over and over.
It doesn’t matter what happens because we’re doing this thing anyway. Just for us.
And, frankly, it’s amazing that we are doing this thing. (Most people never do. Most people don’t ever begin.) So you are a rather brilliant human being for even attempting beginning something.
Begin and find out what happens.
Write for five minutes and find out where it takes you.
Begin with the word begin.
Or begin with:
I remember the first time I…
If you need some support with getting started, I'd love to hear from you. I'd love to welcome you to our supportive writing community or get in touch to find out how we can work together.
