I know what you’re thinking, I might be in the wrong business – but hear me out.
The hardest part of writing for me is to write. I always have ideas swimming around in my head but when I finally sit down to do it it’s like the blank page is challenging me to a duel. With my honor and intelligence at stake I pour out whatever words come to mind and the blank paper fights back. It throws those same words right back at me.
So I start over. I want my first page to be perfect. The words should be thought provoking, heartfelt, attention grabbing. It should make the reader wonder how they ever got through life without reading these magnificent words. It should be something simple yet moving. Instead I write my name and play with the different fonts and colors. I start to question why I thought I could ever be a writer.
At this point I’m sitting at my table like
Now is the time I need to tell myself to take a step back and give myself a break. I need to stop putting so much pressure on myself. This is the first time I’ve sat down to actually write a novel. So relax girl.
The truth is the first page is the scariest part of writing a novel.
Even if you know your characters inside and out, even if you’ve made bulletin boards of the outline with pictures, post-its and everything… it’s terrifying.
My dad always says that the hardest part of any journey you take is the first step. It’s completely cheesy but writing a book is like going on a journey: You travel to different places and times, you jump from one character to the next, seeing what they see, feeling what they feel.
Anyway, the best advice on how to tackle this is to push through it. Just write and keep writing. Oh and thank God for the backspace button.
So here it goes:
Once upon a time…….
🙂
WritersToday 
“The truth is the first page is the scariest part of writing a novel.”
I’m of the opinion that the hundreds of rejections are the scariest. Once that last agent gives you the finger, or worse, the silent treatment, the world becomes significantly colder.
That’s a good point. It’s stressful just thinking about it. It’s definitely hard to convince yourself that everyone goes through the process of rejections. There’s no other choice than to be patient. But I agree that Constructive criticism is one thing but no feed back what so ever is another.
Good luck to you!