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Q&A The psychology of starting a piece of writing

How do you start writing? You sit down and write. No matter how trite, no matter how derivative - you write. You give it your honest best effort. Then, the next day, you give what you've written an...

posted 6y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-12T21:57:22Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36344
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T08:53:39Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36344
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T08:53:39Z (over 4 years ago)
How do you start writing? You sit down and write. No matter how trite, no matter how derivative - you write. You give it your honest best effort. Then, the next day, you give what you've written an honest look. You note what's good, what's bad. Then, you either continue writing, edit yesterday's work and then continue, or put it in a folder of "no good", and start again. Rinse and repeat. (Don't delete "bad work" - you might be able to draw something from it later. And it's not like we lack space nowadays - it's all on the computer.)

Compare your experience to someone who wants to play Rachmaninov's concerti, but has never played the piano at all. He touches a key, and doesn't like the sound of it. So he stops. He loves the piano, but his first attempts sound horrible, so he doesn't touch the piano any more, he just wishes to play Rachmaninov.  
The way this person might some day play Rachmaninov is if he sits down and practices every day, listens to what's wrong, corrects himself, and keeps going. Then, after a decade of hard work, he would play Rachmaninov, if not well, then at least tolerably.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-05-23T09:01:14Z (almost 6 years ago)
Original score: 31