On Where to Start

I hear this a lot.

“Where do I start?” “I just don’t know where to start my story.” “I have an ending in mind, but I don’t know where to start.”

It seems whoever I talk to, people are having a hard time starting things. I should know, I used to be in that boat. Despite having started and finished something, it can still be hard to start writing.

Where does one begin? How do you set the right tone? What if you’re picking something up from the day before? From last week? Last year?

First, take a deep breath.

I mentioned in a previous blog post that it’s okay to walk away from a project without finishing it. Essentially “giving up”. I’ve thought a lot about that and what I’ve concluded is that the fear of starting comes from the uncertainty of not knowing if there is enough to finish.

The question people often ask themselves is: “Will I have enough material or motivation to finish this?”

Here’s the short of it.

It doesn’t matter.

The beauty of starting something is that you can do it over and over again. Starting is a feeling, not a destination. You can start over until it feels right.

The important thing is to just do it, and understand that it’s not the end of the world if you don’t get it right the first time, or the tenth time or even the 100th time. So the next time you’re sitting down to start something new; a story, a painting, a book, a personal project of any kind, try not to focus so much on where you should begin. Just go with the flow. And when you least expect it, something amazing might happen.