On Starting

“The scariest moment is always just before you start.” Anticipation that bubbles into anxiety, fear of failure, these all become far too real in the meager moments before you begin to write. So maybe you stop. Maybe you shut off the computer, or put the ball point pen down and opt to begin another day. Only that day never comes. The only way to conquer this fear is to start. It’s a horror movie that you watched as kids down in your parents basement, hiding behind quilts to shade your eyes from the onscreen terror; key word: onscreen. Everything you write is onscreen (or on paper/canvas) and as daunting as it seems, as soon as you remove yourself from the chair in which you’re crafting your art from, you can remove yourself from the art itself. It’s not as scary as you would think, certainly not worth the debilitating hesitancy that comes in waves moments prior to your beginning. Give it a shot. Remove yourself.