Don't put off starting!


You already know enough to start writing. You have what's in your head and you're heart. You have a lifetime of experiencing the world to inspire you.


You have a story inside you. It's time to tell it.


In her book, Bird By Bird, Anne Lamott talks about the time a student asked her, "But how? How do you actually do it?" And she told him, "You sit down. You put a piece of paper in the typewriter, or you turn on your computer and bring up the right file, and then you stare at it for an hour or so. You look at the ceiling, or the clock, yawn, and stare at the paper again. Then, with your fingers poised over the keyboard, you squint at an image that is forming in your mind- a scene, a local, a character, whatever- and you try to quiet your mind so you can hear what that landscape or character has to say above all the other voices in your mind. The other voices are the voices of anxiety, judgment, doom, and guilt. You clear a space for the writing voice, hacking away at the others with machetes, and you begin to compose sentences. You begin to string words together like beads to tell a story. It is a matter of persistence and faith and hard work. So you might as well just go ahead and get started."

E.L Doctorow once said that "writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights but you can make the whole trip that way."


You won't get anywhere until you start. Take it one step...one word...at a time. You don't need to read another book on writing first. You don't need to do more research. You don't need to have more time. The time is now.


Just do it!


Start writing!


Right now!