Starting the Writing Process: A Friendly Reminder to Getting Words on the Page

Welcome to IGP’s first blog! I’m thrilled at the opportunity of being here with you.

Starting the writing process can feel overwhelming—but it doesn’t have to. Whether you’re dreaming of your first book, crafting a blog, or journaling for clarity, getting started is the most important step. Today, we'll move past the blank page with confidence for an approachable and enjoyable writing process.

I’ve been an avid reader for as long as I can remember. Through storytelling, I’ve traveled far and wide, lived many lives, worked jobs I didn’t know existed, had conversations with people of varying socioeconomic backgrounds, experienced devastation, despair, and have soared on wings of abundant successes. I’ve been many races, experienced various cultures, and exposed to multiple religions and spiritual practices. I have died, lived, and thrived through the imaginations of a surfeit of writers and authors.

And yet, when it comes to my personal writing, there are times when I go blank. The ideas are there; however, it's like experiencing noisy chaos.

Why Starting the Writing Process Feels Hard

For many of us, we know exactly what we want to write, the reason(s) behind it, and how we’d like to tackle the project. Then there are those of us who have an inkling about what we’d like to share, but the thoughts bump against one another.

How do we make sense of what we want to write and how do we write it?

Margaret Mitchell was an avid reader as well. Somewhere in my reading journey, I read her husband told her something similar to “stop reading books and write one.” She didn’t know what to write. His advice was to write what she knew. She wrote Gone with the Wind.

An adage rings true and is applicable here: write what you know. The good news is that writing is about people and life. Odds are, you know more about both than you think. After all, you’re a person, and you’re alive. Start where you are.

Still uncertain? No worries.

Practical Steps for Starting the Writing Process

In their book, Structure Your Novel, Robert Meredith and John Fitzgerald offer suggestions to kick-start your creativity.

• An idea based on a personal experience.

• An idea based on something that may have happened via a personal experience.

• An idea based on a philosophical conclusion about life because of a personal experience.

  

• A personal experience based on something you’ve seen or heard.

• History is a source of ideas.

• A friend or an acquaintance will sometimes offer ideas.

• A strong feeling for or against something can offer ideas as well.

• A current event or story may prove worthy of an idea or two.

• What about a chance encounter?

• Do you have a burning desire to pursue an adventure you haven’t personally experienced?

• Social upheavals may also provide ideas. (1993, pp. 1-4)

My suggestion: If you want to write, then write. In the beginning, be okay with stream of consciousness and word dumping. Nix the brain freezes when it comes to punctuation, grammar, and tenses. Free yourself from the mental confines of thinking your first pass must be perfect. It’s a first draft. Just write. Get it out. Free your words. Free yourself.

Core Ideas

• Starting the writing process pertains to progression, not perfection.

• If you're stuck, write about what you know.

• Free yourself from mental blocks and write.

Start where you are. You got this!

To your success!

-Shanda