I struggled for a many years, with fear, self doubt and insecurity…  basically procrastinating by reading books on writing before I actually got to writing the words down.

I’ve talked to other writers who have had a similar struggle.

First time writers have asked me: “How do you start? of they’ve told me they’re having trouble with the beginning of their book. Sometimes they’ve spent months doing research for a novel or their memoir, and after filling several computer documents with notes and random thoughts and ideas, they still haven’t started writing their book.

These writers had lots of ideas and information, but the big question that loomed in front of them was “how do I start?”

I’ve also been stumped many times by that very thing. That’s where I was when I first started writing.

You see, my big dream was to write books when I was younger. But in elementary school a teacher who I admired told me my writing was like chicken scratchings. And being a farm girl I knew what that meant.

I was so devastated. I stopped writing down my stories. Instead, I only spoke my stories aloud where it was safe… to my dog, cats and horse. They were willing listeners.

I didn’t write stories again for 20 years. Finally, when I started homeschooling and teaching my own kids how to write stories, my dream was sparked again. Yet for months I tiptoed around that desire. I was afraid to go there again.

The thought of writing wouldn’t let up. So I thought to myself,  I could try to learn to write. That seems safe enough.

So after reading books and blogs on writing and listening to podcasts and taking a few writing courses, I started writing and 8 years later I finally published my first novel.

I totally understand the fear, insecurity and self-doubt that most of us have when trying to write our stories.

As writers, when we stare at the blank page, we feel exposed, vulnerable and unsure of where to start.

Ideas to Help You Start Writing

Each day I ask myself questions like: where do I go from here? or how to I get unstuck?

I think for many writers who are constantly facing this question, the bigger hang-up is that we’re anxious about starting our story off on the wrong path.

Maybe you have a great idea for a story, but before you actually start writing, there are so many different possibilities and ideas that your story could take that you wonder where you should start.

But once you get to writing your story and begin moving on your chosen path with your characters and setting, pretty soon the possibilities for your story aren’t so endless. Now you’ve picked which way you’re going… but at this point you might be worried about whether you’ve gone down the wrong path.

So what are some steps you can take to start writing your book?

1.Brainstorm your ideas into a mind map. This is where I start and it makes a massive difference. All you do is write down all your ideas onto a big blank paper, a whiteboard or even the back of a pizza box. Basically this is a brain dump of what’s in your head of all the possibilities you have for your story. I talk more about how mind mapping works here, but this is something that works well for either fiction or non-fiction.

2.Start writing a couple of sentences that are not from the beginning of your story. Some writers start their books by writing a sentence or a couple of paragraphs that’s from much later in their book. There’s some authors who have even started jotting down ideas from the very last chapter and it works great for them. You can even work backwards from the last chapter toward the first and by doing that, you’ll end up with somewhat of a road map before you even write the first sentence.

3.Write about a character that you find intriguing. Try jotting down a character you have envisioned being the hero of a story. Explore the character’s appearance, her or his name, write this character doing something or saying something in a scene. If you want, add another character as a friend to your first character and describe that person too. Be really descriptive about their clothes, how they look(eyes, hair, height, weight) and their personal likes and dislikes. Also, explain where they are – the setting – in great detail. By the time you’ve done this, who knows, you might just keep writing and have a full blown story ready to be written.

4.Write little nuggets of small-ish scenes, or part of a chapter. The scenes don’t have to relate to each other. Maybe there’s a favorite romance scene you thought of, or a suspense filled idea for the ending, write that. For nonfiction, maybe there’s a part in your book that you know inside and out and would be incredible easy to write. Start with that. You’ll not only boost your confidence, but suddenly writing the rest of the book won’t seem so intimidating.

So those are some ideas that have really helped me to start writing, when I’ve felt stuck. I talk about more ways to get unstuck in this book I wrote to help first-time writers called, Write and Publish Your First Book: A Step-By-Step Blueprint to Write, Self-Publish and Market Your Fiction or Non-Fiction Book. 

 I hope you find these tips useful and that it gives you more ideas on how you can begin to write your book.

What are some ideas that help you start writing when you’re staring at the blank page? Please share, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.