Don’t underestimate the power of the first three sentences to get a project in motion. Once you write three sentences, the piece has begun, ever so slightly, to exist and take shape.
And the practice of writing three sentences each day can increase, the following week, to become four sentences—a “tiny gain, ” as James Clear puts it. Think of ways you can make tiny gains in your writing, because a few sentences can become a paragraph, a few paragraphs can become a chapter, and a few chapters can become a book.
But even if you manage only three sentences and no more, you will have made progress.
The only way you won’t make progress is by not writing at all.
This podcast episode, originally recorded and published in January 2016, assures you that sentence by sentence, you’re going to meet your goal, because tiny gains over time add up.
Click on the podcast player below and listen to this short episode (5:43), re-released especially for you here at Tweetspeak, from your own writing coach, encouraging you to do the work of a writer.
Related:
Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach – Episode 32: What’s the Thing You Really Want to Write…That Scares You?
Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach – Episode 14: Progress, Not Perfection
The 2015 Tiny Gains Challenge (James Clear)
This Coach Improved Every Tiny Thing by 1 Percent and Here’s What Happened (James Clear on Marginal Gains)
Photo by Honey+Venom, Creative Commons license via Flickr. Post by Ann Kroeker, podcaster, Tweetspeak editor, writing coach, and co-author of On Being a Writer: 12 Simple Habits for a Writing Life that Lasts.
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Is your writing life all it can be?
Let this book act as your personal coach, to explore the writing life you already have and the writing life you wish for, and close the gap between the two.
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Bethany says
Such helpful, practical advice. I love how you making starting (which can be the most difficult part of writing) approachable by focusing on just. three. sentences.
Ann Kroeker says
I’m so glad, Bethany. Starting can be so hard. Hopefully after you sit down and write three, you’ll want to continue but even if you don’t, you’ve got three…you’ve got a start.
Bethany says
*make starting 😉
Karen says
Excellent advice. Three sentences is enough for me to find a way into writing, to find a jumping off point.
Ann Kroeker says
Exactly. You can take the work in a different direction, if only you can get some momentum. I’m glad to hear that about your experience, Karen. Thanks for sharing.