The Golden Pencil: The Freelance Writer’s Resource

Tricks for Getting the Writing Started

by Anne Wayman on May 17th, 2005

I’ve been avoiding starting a ghostwriting project for over a week. In my own defense, the first day or two of avoidance I was sick… a cold that ended with a migraine headache. Then I spent a day recovering, and another day catching up on email and doing the easy stuff. But the last three or four days, I’ve simply been avoiding the whole thing.

Yesterday I got as far as opening a file and putting the working title of the book nicely centered at the top of the page… that’s all, but it was a start of sorts.

Today, after much pacing around and doing other things, I realized I simply had to start, and still I hesitated. And then I remembered something I call book-ending. When I’m stuck, I call a trusted friend and tell them I’m going to spend x amount of time on x project. Sometimes it’s silly things like doing the dishes. I’ll call Cait, and often talking to her answering machine, say something like “I’m going to spend the next 30 minutes doing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen.” Then when I’m done, I call back and report that I’ve completed the task.

That’s what I did today about the ghostwriting. I left a message for Barbara telling her I was going to spend 30 minutes working on the book. It worked. I’ve actually got the thing started, and started pretty well too. Although I called her back to tell her I’d put in the 30 minutes, I’ve actually spent a good hour and a half… when I post this, eat lunch, I’ll probably spend another hour on it.

If you find yourself stuck, try book ending.

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