If endurance is the most crucial part of the writing process (the writing life) the other side of that same coin is beginning.
Why?
Because out of fear, most people never will start.
The voices in their head will tell them they are not good enough. They will fear the judgment of their parents and friends. And they will take every critique as
If you want to be a writer, do not fall for this.
“It is not a waste to sit and struggle with your art.”
Be brave enough to begin.
And then be brave enough to keep going.
I am astounded how many writers wrote for a decade or more before anyone much cared what they had to say.
“Endings are elusive, middles are nowhere to be found, but worst of all is to begin, to begin, to begin!” —Donald Barthelme
-Dani Shapiro, Still Writing