Had to laugh at one of our Camp NaNoWriMo pep talks today…

“Too intimidated by the blank page? Just sneak up on your story. The first sentence can literally be “I have no idea what I want the first sentence of my story to be.” (Once I started my novel with “I probably should have written an outline. Why on earth would anyone choose that for a karoke number?” Karaoke bars: surprisingly good places to write novels.)
You’ll be surprised by how easily tricked your brain can be: if you just start rambling around typing random thoughts, even just meta commentary about being nervous about writing, you’ll soon discover that all of a sudden you’re typing actual story. It’s like giving a stalled car a push start. You can edit all that nonsense out in the second draft!”
It’s kinda funny, cos when I started writing Into the Dark during NaNoWriMo 2013 I was also a little panicked – and this was my opening line. It didn’t end up in the book, but it did kick off a chapter I liked 🙂
She stared at the blank page, suddenly terrified. How was she supposed to begin? What should she write? Was there any point to this? The glaring whiteness of the paper shimmered accusingly at her, and she blinked twice, trying to focus properly. Tears? Again? She wiped her left eye impatiently, put down her pen, picked it up again. What was she scared of? No one would ever see what she wrote.
Today was tough, and I left it to the very last minute (quite literally – it was midnight when I began), but I forced myself to sit down and type, until I had 1035 words. And now to bed… xx