Beginnings are Hard

But don't despair! We'll get through it together

Hi friends! If you’re looking for a writing group, we’re here for you. We are loose and relaxed but consistent. Here week in and week out. So join us for $8/month and put writing on your calendar. Schedule of upcoming writing sprints and other stuff is at the bottom of this newsletter.

My father’s typewriter. Bought new in 1952, it still works almost perfectly.

Now, for those of you starting a new project…

I grind my teeth a little whenever I see some version of “Just get it down. It doesn’t have to be perfect. You can fix it later.” In the beginning of a project, I’m not remotely trying to make it perfect. I’m looking for any solid clue to what it even is. I make lists and notes and synopses and think about things like plot points and character arc and blah blah blah, and yet, at some point, I must bumble forward through the fog and write the thing anyway. I have to confront the discomfort of not knowing where I’m going. I know it’s out there somewhere, and I’m not going to find it unless I write my way there. Where a smidge of clarity meets a lot of self-trust—that’s where I begin.

I want to say something wise and helpful here, but the reality is that, for me at least, the beginning of a project is really freaking hard, and I don’t know if it’s ever going to get easier. It’s where all my dreams for how amazing the project could be collide with all my doubts and insecurities about whether I can do that amazing thing at all. The collision sometimes takes me to the point of (at least temporary) paralysis.

Paralysis does not make a book. Words make a book. So I must coax myself, guide myself, even trick myself into getting words on paper. It’s like arguing with a toddler sometimes. But last week, our No Time to Write Club members gave me some new insights and helped me remember some things I am too quick to forget. (Thank you! I hope you know who you are :) )

If the beginning of a project is tricky for you, I hope this will help:

1. Some rambling incoherence is okay. You’ll take it out later or change it into something that works once you know what the story is. Some amount of telling yourself the story is part of the process. Don’t fight it.

2. Don’t get hung up on quantifiable goals at this point. The beginning isn’t the part where you’re going to be writing a thousand words a day, day in and day out. But at the same time, don’t mess around writing notes and outlines and synopses and ideas forever and ever. Any amount of words written in the actual story is progress. A hundred words. Fifty. Or a thousand.

3. Just get the document open and start. Once you’re going, you’ll probably write more than you think.

4. It’s okay to feel a bit overwhelmed at the endeavor. Writing a book—or any long, involved piece of work—is a huge endeavor.

5. At the same time, you’re not writing an entire book right this second. You’re writing a few sentences, maybe a few pages. If they suck or you get it all wrong, the entire book isn’t at stake, only a day’s work.

6. But try and make those sentences, those couple of pages, sing. That’s the wonderful thing about getting good at words.

November Podcast: Writing through turbulent times.

Tes and Sara discuss—from a place of upheaval and regrouping—what it looks like to continue doing your creative work when things around you are turbulent and hard.

December podcast coming soon. Let us know if there’s anything you’d like us to talk about in future episodes.

*Schedule: November 22–December 8, 2024*

To join our sprints you must be a paid subscriber :)

Zoom links are below for paid subscribers.

• Thursday, December 5, 9pm ET: Zoom writing sprint (75 minutes)

• Sunday, December 8, 4:30pm ET: Zoom writing sprint (75 minutes)

• Thursday, December 12, 9pm ET: Zoom writing sprint (75 minutes)

• Sunday, December 15: asynchronous sprint on the Substack chat

• Monday, December 16, noon ET: Zoom writing sprint (75 minutes)

• Thursday, December 19, 9pm ET: Zoom writing sprint (75 minutes)

• Sunday, December 22, 4:30pm ET: Zoom writing sprint (75 minutes)

• Thursday, December 26, 9pm ET: Zoom writing sprint (75 minutes)

• Sunday, December 29: asynchronous sprint on the Substack chat

• Monday, December 30, noon ET: Zoom writing sprint (75 minutes)

What We’re Up To

Sara is anxiously waiting to hear what her agent thinks about her latest manuscript. Meanwhile, she’s starting another weirdball project which is sort of American Gods meets Finlay Donovan. She’s also planning a short, impromptu writing retreat for January because sometimes you really do need get away from everything.

Tes is nursing a nasty cold :(