One of the hardest parts of writing anything doesn't come down to skill, grammar, or ideas. Most writers have more ideas than time to get them into some sort of written form. The difficult part for a lot of authors is sitting down and starting the writing process.
This might sound obvious, but it’s where many people get caught out.
I hear the same thing time and time again from other writers. Life always gets in the way from the real job in hand. There are always messages to reply to, work to finish, or places to be, pushing the writing off to one side, waiting for a quieter moment that never quite arrives. Days pass. Sometimes weeks do too.
If this feels familiar, you might find it useful to read How To Enjoy Writing Again Without Pressure, which looks at easing back into writing without forcing momentum.
With all of life's distractions going on around us, it's easy to forget that writing the book is the one part of the process that can’t be skipped. This is more important if you are, or want to be, an author. Everything else can wait. This bit can’t.
Why starting feels harder than it should
Starting carries more weight than we like to admit.
Before anything exists on the page, the work is still perfect in your head. The moment you begin, that changes. Expectation starts to weigh down on you, or you compare yourself to other authors, and the worry that what you write won’t live up to what you imagined. For some writers, that worry turns inward. They wonder what’s wrong with them, or doubting whether you should be writing at all.
That makes starting feel personal rather than practical.
What often gets overlooked is what happens once you do start. The first words don’t need to be good. They just need to exist. Once something has finally been written, you’re no longer dealing with an idea in the abstract. You’re working with what’s actually there. That shift matters.
Spending time with the work changes how it feels. The pressure eases, if only slightly. Writing often becomes more manageable once you’re already in it. Research into creative flow suggests that pressure can interrupt focus more than lack of ability.
When the enjoyment returns to writing
A lot of writers wait to feel ready before they begin. They expect writing to feel clearer, lighter, or more inviting first. That’s understandable, but it can keep writing just out of reach.
Those feelings don’t usually arrive on their own. Writing often feels uncertain at the beginning. The page doesn’t become welcoming first. It becomes familiar over time. For a lot of writers the enjoyment shows up later, once the work feels less fragile and the pressure has eased.
After you’ve spent some time with the piece, something shifts. Decisions don’t feel quite as heavy. The writing stops feeling like a test and starts to feel workable again.
If you’re trying to work out how to enjoy writing, it can help to stop treating enjoyment as the starting point. Try to focus on finding a small way back to the page. The enjoyment will often follow on after that, rather than the other way around.
What actually counts as writing?
Many writers have a narrow idea of what writing is supposed to look like. Finished chapters. Clean scenes. Pages that make sense straight away.
When you first start the exciting trip into a new adventure, most writing won’t feel like it is progressing very fast. You will spend a lot of time writing notes, fragments, half-formed ideas, abandoned openings, and sentences you never use. The writing process includes thinking through a story, making lists, or writing a line just to see what happens next. It’s an untidy process, and sometimes it’s confusing. However, this is completely normal during the first draft of writing a book.
All you are aiming to do at this point is get the ideas out of your head and onto the page, and it shouldn't be the finished article. This is just a frame to hang the story on later. Without a first draft, there won’t be a second draft, or a third for that matter. The shaping of the story comes later.
That part is easier to do once something exists.
A small way to start today
If writing feels too big, make it smaller.
Open a document and write one sentence. It doesn’t need to be perfect, or lead anywhere. You could describe a place you remember clearly. Write a line of dialogue with no context. Jot down a thought you’ve been carrying around all day.
Where it goes doesn’t matter.
There are no rules about how much you need to write for it to count, just as long as you are moving forwards. One sentence is still writing. Writing tends to grow from permission. The habit forms when writing feels possible to return to.
If you write one sentence today, that’s enough.
The most important part, revisited
The most important part of writing isn’t speed, confidence, or consistency. It isn’t finishing, publishing, or proving anything.
It’s returning.
If writing feels difficult right now, that doesn’t mean something is broken. It often means you’re at the beginning again. Once writing feels possible, enjoyment has room to return. Returning matters more than momentum, especially early on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it so hard to start writing?
Starting often feels difficult because writing carries expectation before anything exists on the page. Pressure to do it well or to be consistent can make beginning feel heavier than it needs to be.
How does enjoyment return to writing?
For many writers, enjoyment returns after writing feels possible again. Starting gently and spending time with the work often comes before enjoyment, not after.
Does writing without pressure actually work?
Writing without pressure doesn’t mean writing without care. It means allowing early drafts to exist without judgment, which can make it easier to keep going.
What really counts as writing?
Writing includes notes, fragments, unfinished ideas, and time spent thinking about a story. Finished chapters are only one visible part of the process.
What should I do if I feel stuck or unmotivated?
Feeling stuck often means the task feels too large. Making it smaller can help. Writing one sentence, or switching briefly to a different piece of work, can ease you back in.
You can find more reflective writing and storytelling through the World of Tellus at eapurle.co.uk.