Kandice Saur's Blog: Dear Diary, Writing Sucks (A blog) - Posts Tagged "how-to-start"

Dear Diary,

Starting a new story, a new project or even a new routine SUCKS. Often I have been faced with the temptation to start a new project. It grips me tight. My heart pumping warmth through my body as I am beaming and ready to burst.
“This is it!” I think, “This is the best idea ever!”
Then the fear hits, “What if it’s not that good of an idea?”
So like any rational person, I get other people involved in crushing my hopes and dreams. Because, if I have learned anything in life, the best way to destroy an aspiration is to get other people involved. So if I tell them and they say “That’s a terrible idea!” I go to bed crying and resolve that they’re probably right. I should never do that, I never do that and I go on about my life sad but safe from having ever had to a terrible idea to fruition. (Pro tip, unless they offer good critique and reasons as to why it’s a terrible idea, do it anyways. And drop that negative, dream-crushing person, they sound like a jerk.)
But usually, that’s not how it happens. This blog, for instance, started as an idea for a podcast. And I mused and I wondered if that was a good idea. Who would listen to a podcast about writing? What would make that interesting? So I brought it up to my non-writing communities because I needed a gentle dream crushing. I didn’t get a dream crushing. I got ‘That’s an amazing idea, I would love to listen to it. Let me know and you can guest on my podcast and talk about what your podcast is about.’. Which, in itself wasn’t what I expected. Even worse, it felt amazing to know that this idea was not a bad idea.
So I introduced it to other friends in other communities, all of whom were all about it. They gave me questions to tackle, advice, and even more opportunities to advertise. And it felt so good I fell into the trap of talking and not doing.
Many of us fall into it. I got such a boost and an amazing feeling when I told people about this great idea that I kept talking about it. I made plans, took notes, prepared, but never actually started it. Then after a while, it sounded like too great of an idea.
It was a scary thing to think about. How could I amount to doing such a Great Idea (TM). So I stopped talking about it. Which worked for about a month. Until people asked ‘Where can I listen to the podcast?’
Well crap. I made myself the most wonderful of traps. So, like any self-respecting person, I began making up excuses and using the limits of my life to my advantage.
“My microphone needs an arm, I’m working on saving up for one.” I only half lied. I wasn’t saving for one and it doesn’t ‘need’ one. It would just sound better if I had one.
“My Internet sucks and I want to live stream the first episode.” Another half lie. True, my Internet is currently a beast, but I know I don’t have to do it live. Some of the best podcasts are recorded and are listen as you go.
“Life has gone sideways.” True, but that’s not a good excuse for me. I wound up writing another novel in the time I was procrastinating starting this project, time that could’ve easily been relocated towards the podcast.
I had all the anxiety and the excuses to back it up. This is a problem many people have, with writing and other aspects of life. So the question is: “How do I start a new project?”
I wish I could impart groundbreaking advice and open everyone to the revolutionary tactics to tackle this problem. Sadly, that is not the case. There really is one way to get past it. It’s by doing it.
I like to use an app like Forest to soft lock my phone. It gives me the little joy of planting a cute digital forest while I work, the fear of killing my current tree, and the knowledge that using this app helps plant real trees. Now that I have the phone out of the way, I just have to do the hard part and put one word in front of the other.
Once I’ve finally decided to start there’s one more barrier. Getting the words out. Some of us have the gross misconception that writing will come at the right moment and flow like a lovely fount from our fingertips while our favorite coffee keeps itself warm in our favorite mug. Sadly, that is a rare moment. More often than not, it’s an uphill battle to get the words on the page, the coffee has run cold and the favorite mug has been dirty in the sink for three days. But still, the words must be written, or there will be no words to read.
Now, how do I they’re the right words? I don’t. I just have to trust that I know enough to get my thoughts across. I also have to force myself to ignore the call of all the chores that I’ve been using as a procrastinating tool. I promise, dusting and dishes can and will wait, they won’t wander off. Once I have all the words down in a close enough to right order, then comes the scary part;
Actually posting it for the world (or a small number of readers) to see.