How do you start writing? How do you get from that blank page to a page with words on it?

You have your ideas, you have considered all sorts of things, and now you are ready to write. But how? You have opened that blank document and that little blinking line seems to tick down the seconds, but you are stuck. How do you start? How do you get your story out?

First of all, get a NEO. It’s less intimidating than a blank white screen. Okay, okay, so you can’t get a NEO unless you get one on eBay because they don’t make them anymore. (Please, someone! Return NEOs to us poor writers!) Anyway, . . .

Here are a few things I do if I’m not sure what to put on that blank page.

• Pray.
• Lay on the floor with my feet on a chair and stare at the ceiling and think about what happens first, or next in the story.
• Grab a notebook and spend 3-5 minutes just jotting down what you think will happen first and next. Don’t think of this as a “must follow this” but as a place to hold ideas.
• Turn off distractions. Put away your phone, turn off Slack (unless you are doing pushes), and focus on your story.
• Start writing. You can start at
  • Setting for your story
  • Conversation between characters
  • A situation that starts the story going
  • The weather if that is important to how the story starts
  • A word and the definition
  • A character’s thoughts
• Just start writing. You can always go back and change or edit it
• If you write best with music, turn on some classical music or some nature sounds that might fit with your story. But please, don’t spend too long searching for music.

I think that so often writers are so anxious to get that first part just so, that it makes them almost paralyzed. You can always come back to it. Maybe what you write first won’t actually be the first part of the book, but that’s okay. You won’t get anything written if you don’t write.

If that blank screen is just making your brain shut down, and you don’t have a NEO, grab a notebook and a pen and start writing. You don’t have to hand write the entire story, but perhaps if you started the story on paper, it would be easy to type up and then just keep typing.

What is something you do if you are facing a blank page and don’t know what to do? Have you tried any of the tips I mentioned? Do you use pen and paper, NEO, or a computer to write your story? Or something else?