Day 1: Writing that First Word

It’s November first and a full thirty days of writing stretch out before you; The page before you is blank and clean, empty save for the slowly flashing cursor marking the starting line or the smudge of ink where you rested your pen.

Maybe you’ve been waiting for this all year, maybe you just found out yesterday, maybe your story’s been simmering away for years, just waiting for this day, or maybe it’s so new and so bright in your mind that you can’t quite see it all yet. Whatever your story, however you got here, whether you’re scared to death or quivering with excitement, one thing’s for sure, you’re going to make it.

You are going to write 50,000 words of your very own. They’ll flow from your fingers like water, a rushing flood, or a slow seeping melt of snow in spring. You’ll catch them with your keys, pattering out like rain drops, or spill them across the page till the ink leaves it damp.

They’ll be good words in just the right order or clumsy ones, not quite sure where they belong yet. Strong words and weak ones, new words and one’s you’ve used too often, unexpected words and ones that have whispered in your ear since this tale was young in your thoughts. But most of all they’ll be your words, drawn from the depths of your being to tell a story only you can tell. Rich words or poor, they’ll be yours and yours alone.

Every story starts with a word, what is yours? Is it a beginning word? Or is it a middle one, pulling you strait in, to find the start later? It doesn’t matter you know which word you start with or where it belongs in the grand scheme of things, all that matters is the word its self, the word that leads to all the others. It needn’t be grand, it’s all ready important, no matter how small it is; it’s the first word, your first word, and that is quite grand enough! Just look! My first word was ‘it’s,’ and look where that led me!

So find your first word and then don’t stop, it’s only a beginning, you have more to find. That’s the fun of it though isn’t it?

— Rita