Start Somewhere

There is nothing more intimidating than a blank page.

You know how it feels to wrestle with words as you begin a new piece. You start and stop, testing a couple sentences and immediately taking them back. You stare at the ceiling in hopes that the perfect words will appear, magically, above your head. As the frustration builds, you might stall the process with your distraction of choice. (Mine is Facebook and a heaping bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.)

Here's the thing, though: that page stops being blank as soon as you write on it. We often bog down trying to perfect our words as soon as they hit the paper or screen. When we let go of that need for immediate perfection, we create space to experiment and explore, to get clear on exactly what it is we want to say.

So, if you find yourself in a staring contest with your screen, remember: just start somewhere. That might mean setting a timer and freewriting without stopping for a few minutes. It might mean jotting down bullet points or sketching out a visual. It might even mean stepping back to have coffee with a friend who can serve as a sounding board for your ideas. Whatever your strategy, get the words out now and worry about polishing them later.

I've found “Start somewhere” to be such a powerful principle that I'm following it as I launch Pennington Writing, too. I don't know yet what the perfect business model or marketing strategy for this venture is, and my stick-figure-drawing game isn’t even all there at the moment. But I’m jumping in anyway, ready to learn as I go along. For now, my invitation is simple: if you want help making your writing the best it can be, drop me a line. We'll start there and see how far we go!