Where to Start?

"The first sentence is always the most difficult."

That's the post I saw on Twitter from my blogger-friend, Ashley.  Her statement is true: the first sentence is the most difficult to write. It's also the most important.

Katie: I never write it first.
Ashley: What do you write first? I tried the last chapter one time. Failed miserably.
Katie: Somewhere. Usually towards the beginning.

This conversation made me ponder my own writing habits and wonder about yours.  So, in the spirit of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo): where do you start when you're writing?

It doesn't necessarily have to be a novel.  It could be a blog post, a poem, or a song.  Where do you start?

Like I told Ashley, I start somewhere towards the beginning but not usually the first line.  The first line is probably the most important line of the novel (or post).  I've heard of people who collect first lines.  The first line is vital, so why start with something so important?

I start later. I have a temporary first line, write the brunt of the piece, and then adjust the first line to be the stunning opening line it should be.  I don't think I write good first lines (except in that one post from Philly last November; that was a killer first line, if I may say so).

I like backstory.  I like to set the scene.  I don't like to jump right in and make the reader try to tread water while he/she is figuring out how deep the lake is and who else is in it.  I write like I think sharks should come with big huge arrows in the sky pointing to them.  But, I have been told that the first line is an awful place for backstory.  What are your thoughts?

Ashley mentioned she tried starting at the end once.  That's what I have in my NaNoWriMo novel: the beginning (sans opening line) and the end.  Now I'm sitting here like a child on Christmas as my parents open their gifts from me and I'm telling them what it is before the paper is off.

I'll ask it again: where do you start?  And why?

I guess it doesn't matter much as long as you start somewhere.

Happy writing,
<>< Katie

Two Thoughts

I was walking back to my apartment under an overcast but dry sky yesterday afternoon when I noticed ripples in the lake. It wasn't raining where I was but it was raining over the lake. It was weird. It's kind of as if God was quoting TobyMac and saying, "If it's got to start somewhere, why not here?"

What's got to start somewhere in your life?  Why not here?

Really think about it.

Have you thought long and hard?

Ok, then how about a Blast from the Past funny story?
From the time I was two until I was about ten we had some great neighbors.  Without a doubt the best neighbors we've ever had.  Late at night after my sister and I fell asleep, they'd set up the baby monitor and go to the neighbors'.  If it was positioned correctly in the window of my back bedroom the signal would reach to the back window and hot tub two doors down.  Probably not the safest thing to do since we were little and asleep, but we were in a good neighborhood, and we knew Mom and Dad and two houses worth of great neighbors were just a shout away.  Well, one night in the dead of winter they were all sitting in the hot tub and they heard some suspicious noise on the baby monitor.  In his swim trunks Dad flew out of the hot tub and ran barefoot through the snow home where he found three sleeping girls and an undistrubed house.  He said the run home wasn't bad but the walk back was frigid.

<>< Katie

Fear

Today was my least favorite day of the semester: Syllabus Day because it means I'm stressed. Yesterday was my favorite day of the semester: Spring Retreat. Of course, why not save the best day for the worst day and blog about them in reverse?

Yesterday we did a lot of introspective stuff and spend a lot of time talking about being transparent and revealing ourselves to each other.

One question we had to answer: What keeps you from sharing?

The most common responses was fear. Fear of rejection. Fear of failure. Fear of humiliation. Fear of vulnerability. And on and on. Fear.

Do we run our lives based off of fear? Why do let fear control us when the only One whose opinion matters has already made up His mind? I've blogged about this before. Just once or twice. :-)

God loves you. Never forget that!

I love you, too,

<><>