JUMP!

Two excellent bits of advice arrived in the comments to "The Diving Board." I was talking about my daily hesitation to begin writing, the habit of lingering on the end of the diving board.

The aptly named JimWing said: "JUMP! No matter how baffled or unsure you are, grab a concept, or even a wisp of a concept and start writing...."

Focus on the process rather than the outcome, said Billie. "Why am I on the diving board? Because I love to dive. So-- feel the board beneath my feet, the sun, the air, the smell of the water. The anticipation of cool, and my favorite part, the swim up from the depth toward light and air. With all that going on, whether the dive is a 10 or not becomes not so important."

My personal adaptions: I could give myself a reward for starting to write within x minutes of getting to my office. And then remember how I felt when I first started writing: the dreamy process of fiddling with words.

After reading Billie's description of the dive, I think I want my reward for starting to write to be going swimming.