Stephen King’s book, On Writing, is a great read for understanding the writing mindset and picking up some writing craft skills. I purchased and read the book eight years ago, but do not remember doing so! But I noticed my Kindle version still had highlights and bookmarks embedded!
It pleased me that many of the things that King recommended were things I was already doing. I guess it is because I learned a lot having read the book previously.
This blog post is not a review of the book, even though I highly recommend it for all aspiring authors; the post explores what stops us from starting.
What Stops Us From Starting?
What really inspired me to write this post is King’s comment:
“The scariest moment is always just before you start. After that, things can only get better.”
Stephen King, On Writing
I reflected on this and realized how true it is. When writing or having to produce anything in the business world, I have often procrastinated starting, only to find once I got going how easy it was to complete what I was doing. So what stops us from starting? It may be different reasons for each of us. Here are a few of mine:
- Fear of failure or not completing what I started
- I worry I am not up to the task
- I do not understand everything necessary to complete the activity
- The task is not something I want to do
- I am distracted or desirous to do other things
You may have your own reasons for not starting. They may be similar or different to mine. Regardless, they are the bogeyman that stops us from making progress,
The Benefits of Starting
I continue to be surprised that once I start, how things fall into place and how easy it is to finish. As King says, getting started is the hardest part. I have found no matter how small the effort I put into starting; it pays off. Here is a list of benefits / lessons I have found by starting:
- There is relief that part of the project or some activities are now behind me
- The unpleasantness of creating a new file or folder or creating a simple structure or template has passed and I can move onto the more exciting creative part of progressing and finishing tasks
- Starting helps me visualize what to do next and what the next steps are
- Ideas for articulating concepts in words or schematics take shape and it becomes easier to reject, progress and finally accept them
- I can’t finish until I start!
As Nike says, “Just Do It!” And Stephen King and I agree with Nike. Nothing happens until you start. I find executing the simplest activities to start opens the floodgate of progress.
How I Start
Here are a few of my tips for starting. You can see that a few of them are trivial. Yet, doing them prepares me to jump in and do more.
- Put the task or activity in your To-Do list
- Write some thoughts on what needs to be done in Evernote or whatever note-taking method you use, including pen and paper
- Attempt a first outline of the key tasks to perform or the beginning of the structure of what the output may look like
- Create a new Folder or document which has the title of what you are doing with a few notes in it on what you will do next when you get up the next morning or from a nap or when finishing the other activity you are currently working on
- Make a commitment to start and see how it goes
I find doing the simplest things encourages me to continue and progress with what I am doing. For example, I got up in the middle of the night to jot down some ideas on what this blog post would look like and now it is complete. By starting, things continued to flow and now it’s done!
A Highly Recommended Read
If you want to learn more about a successful writer’s journey, the writing mindset, or pick up some writing craft skills, I highly recommend reading Stephen King’s book, On Writing.
I will leave you with one more gold nugget from King, which is to write extensively and read extensively. In the last chapters in the book, he provides a list of the many books he recommends reading. It is a good list for getting started.
For other highly recommended books to read, peruse my other blog posts.
You can find Stephen King’s book, On Writing, at the following Amazon sites:
Amazon US
Amazon Canada
Amazon UK
Amazon Australia
0 Comments