How to start writing

If writing goals leave you feeling 'meh' or you've missed a target & lost your mojo, start where you are right now - with advice from author Robin Sloan.

Last month we talked about writing goals - what they are, the benefit of having one and how to meet them. But what if you don’t have a specific goal in mind or you have one but for one reason or another you’ve stalled?

Every month we’re digging a little deeper into a chapter of our book Written: How to Keep Writing and Build a Habit that Lasts and this month we’re onto chapter five: starting.

Sharing ‘fragments’

The guy peeking out from behind the bookshelves below is Robin Sloan, an American author, programmer, olive oil enthusiast and co-creator of a sci-fi concept album.

In 2007 Sloan was working at Twitter and he was bored and frustrated. He had a yearning to write - but at the time, didn’t know what. So, he joined together with two friends who also had writing ambitions and they started to share what he described to us were ‘fragments’ - scraps of writing, ideas, short posts, a few sentences here and there. Nothing of any great consequence.

The following year, Sloan had an idea for a story set in a mysterious bookshop (the idea came from a tweet he saw). The fragments he wrote got longer. He wrote a short story based on his idea and shared that. His writing buddies liked it so he thought he’d turn it into a novella.

To give him some accountability he set up a Kickstarter page promising supporters that he’d write the story and send them a copy. People supported it and as he wrote he attracted a few fans and crucially, the attention of an agent. The agent pitched Sloan’s story idea to a publisher and in time, this lead to a book deal.

In 2014, seven years after first starting to write, Sloan published his first novel: Mr Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore which went on to become a New York Times best seller, published in 20 countries and hailed by legendary American author George Saunders as ‘a real tour-de-force, a beautiful fable that is given legs by the author’s bravado use of the real’.

It all started from a fragment.

Starter steps

We’re all taught that to achieve anything in life you need to know what you want, have a clear sense of direction and a well-defined goal - but that’s not always true.

The moral of Sloan’s story (which we expand on in our book) is that sometimes, having a big goal can actually hold you back. Sloan didn’t start with the intention of writing a New York Times best seller. How intimidating would that be? He didn’t even set out to write a novel. He didn’t know where he was heading. He just started by having fun sharing fragments and those fragments grew and grew until he found his story.

Image credit: Graphic Change for #WrittenTheBook

Do the smallest thing

When you start, you don’t need to have a grand goal, a great idea or a plan of action. You don’t need to have much of a clue at all - but you do need to start.

Begin with a fragment or, as we call it, a starter step. A starter step gets you going and it works because it dials down the pressure.

So, if you don’t know what you want to write or how to progress - that’s fine. Start where you are right now - not in some perfect future circumstance. Start small. Start with what feels least intimidating.

One tip we tell writers is to brainstorm all the steps you can take that could be classed as writing or that contribute to writing (and that might be scrolling Twitter for ideas). The, pick the smallest, most enjoyable (or least painful) step you can take and do it right now.

Keep writing, Bec & Chris

Want some midpoint motivation?

As we’ve been writing Breakthroughs & Blocks for six months (yep, another milestone passed), we’ve decided to experiment with some writing productivity surgeries.

We’re calling these Midpoint Motivators because they’re all about giving you a little burst of energy in the middle of the month when you might be flagging.

We’ll be on hand to answer all your writing questions and offer gentle coaching advice to get you writing and celebrate your progress.

Register to attend below. Send your questions in advance (hit reply or add to the comments below) or join live to ask.

👉  When: Jul 19, 2023 6:00 PM London

👉  Topic: Midpoint Motivator - Ask Us Anything

👉  Register in advance for this webinar

See you there! Have a question but can’t make it live? We’ll send the recording to everyone who registers.

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Keep it small

Another reason to keep it small from the ever-insightful Liz & Mollie on Instagram.