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You Don't Need to Begin at the Beginning  - or

Important Rule of Writing

category: writing

Writing is a big chore for many people. They push the task off onto some other person, anything to avoid staring at a blank screen or piece of paper. These people often seem to have a lot to say, but they don't know how to get started. They think they have to start at the beginning.

Yes, Julie Andrews told us that the beginning was a good place to start, but writers don't need to begin at the beginning. They can start anywhere. If a writing project starts to give me trouble, I get away from the beginning. I think about the middle or the end. I do anything to get some words and sentences down. Whatever I'm trying to write, a short memo or a formal article, the important thing is to start writing. Once I have a few sentences down, I read what I have written, and I often discover that my third sentence should be my first, the second should be the fourth, and so on. It's as if I needed a few warm-up sentences to get to what I want to say. Whatever you are writing, give yourself those warm-up sentences. Start in the middle or at the end. Do what it takes to get some words on the page. Once you have some words down, you have somewhere to go.

She said on 08.30.05 @ 02:25 PM CST