When facing the start of a big or complicated project, I used to waste a lot of time dithering over where to begin. I'd make lists of steps, consult friends or procrastinate. This probably came from the superstition that if a venture doesn't have an auspicious beginning, it's doomed.
This superstition (I think a lot of us hold it to some degree) inspired me to make countless new starts, especially in my writing. When I first attempted fiction I rewrote Chapter 1 so many times that I often didn't get around to Chapter 2.
Over the years I figured out that beginnings often have nothing to with how well the finished work turns out. It's the steadiness and quality of day-by-day work that counts. And sometimes it doesn't even make sense to start at the beginning. For example, it works better for me to draft scenes of the major turning points in a story, then write the transitional scenes later.
The next time you feel stuck, try going on to the next step if your project doesn't require that you do certain steps in specific order. If you haven't come up with an inspired beginning, skip it and work on the next part. Eventually it'll all fall into place.
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