What am I going to write?
What if it’s no good?
What if I can’t do this?
What if I’ve been fooling everybody and now I’m going to be found out and lose all my clients and all my money and my house and my clothes and have to go and live in a hole in the ground?

Do you feel that way when you sit down to write? If so, relax. Many people do. Including me.

Here’s the good news: you don’t have to write anything good.

All you have to do is write something.

Then find a way, however small, to improve it.

Then you keep doing that, over and over, until it’s done.

That’s how you climb the mountain of writing. Not by swooping down in a helicopter and parachuting on to the peak. By putting one foot in front of the other until you reach the top.

Maybe you can take a leap along the way. Then again, maybe you’ll get stuck and have to retrace your steps. None of that matters. Just keep moving.

The good stuff is the endpoint, not the first step. So for the moment, forget about finishing and just start. The next step will be clear when you arrive.