Write to the Point

2Getting Started: Stop Staring and Start Writing

“My way is to begin at the beginning.”

—Lord Byron

“The last thing one knows when writing a book is what to put first.”

—Blaise Pascal

IF ONLY WRITING WERE LIKE riding a bike, swimming, driving a car, or roller-skating. Once learned, we never forget how to do it. Unlike climbing a mountain and planting a flag on its peak, the writing process consists of mental mountain climbing where there is no peak to reach. Rather, we encounter only a series of plateaus of elevation. Two factors often inhibit the writing process: fear of criticism or failure and the need to impress the reader. Our awareness or sense of permanence associated with committing ideas to paper or the computer disk can produce in us ...