I have found this to be my biggest obstacle. An idea really doesn’t count for much until it hits the paper. I can blame my hesitation on a lack of available time, incomplete ideas, my inner editor, a lack of exigency or deadlines…but really, maybe it’s just a lack of will.

So I’ve decided to turn to the old 90′s NIKE slogan, “Just do it.” When I hear that phrase I think of a conference room with a long shiny expensive wooden table surrounded by the CEO, CFO, secretaries, and really nervous marketing types trying to come up with a slogan that will make people want to hop into overpriced shoes, work out, and change their lives. And I picture an intern in the back holding two steaming cups of coffee waiting for a break in the intense discussion about the company slogan so he can hand the cups to their owners. And as the debate builds and his hands continue to burn, his sweaty face yells out, “JUST DO IT!” There is a complete silence, which makes the intern forget about the burning coffee. And in that classic Hollywood moment, the CEO breaks the silence with one word: “Brilliant!”

But back to my point…there is no fix for a writer’s inability to begin writing. It’s all in our heads. Maybe we shouldn’t start writing until we have something we have to say, something that can’t go unwritten. And I’m sure we all have something we really want to say.

If we don’t, then we have bigger problems than struggling to start the writing process.