Just Start. That’s it.

Danielle MacInnes

I didn’t want to write this post.  I was tempted to blow it off, because finally, finally, the book has a full head of steam and I’m just making sure the boiler stays stoked and hanging on the for the ride.

There is no better feeling–no, not even that.  Being in flow and creating a story has no equal.

Because I’m so disgustingly behind my schedule (last time I dared calculate, I was at twelve days – ugh), I wanted to skip the post.

[Small voice:  “Who would notice?”  Other small voice:  “If I miss, that’s when everyone will notice!”]

Only, James Clear’s latest blog post landed in my email box this morning.  “How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the “2-Minute Rule”” was a very good encapsulation of exactly what I have been doing all week–namely, no matter what the distraction, no matter what shiny object has popped up in front of me, just start.

Often, this week, it has been “Just start again.”

But no matter what, I have made myself start writing.

Clear talks about doing things for two minutes and they’ll run away on you after that.

While that is often true, when writing fiction there is a magical point somewhere about the twenty minute mark when the world falls away and all that remains is the story.  It’s when you reach flow.

Sometimes you have to grit your teeth and fight to stay with the story until that moment.

You’re guaranteed to never reach that point if you don’t start, though.

So, next time, try starting.  That’s it.  Just start.  Write a single sentence or paragraph.  After that, you’re off the hook.  You can go play Monster Hunter if you really want to.

That’s what I did with this post.  I told myself to just start it.  Just write a quick reference to Clear’s article then get back to the story.

As it turned out, the post isn’t nearly as short as I agreed with myself it could be.

That’s because I started.

Scroll to Top