A man may write at any time if he will set himself doggedly to it.

Waiting to feel ready is the most reliable way to not begin. The work that gets finished is usually done by people who sat down when they did not want to and stayed there past the first uncomfortable stretch. Mood follows the sitting more often than it precedes it. Stubbornness, unglamorous as it is, does most of the work that talent gets credit for.

Choose the thing you have been circling and give it a fixed half hour, at a fixed time, with nothing else allowed in that window. Do not judge what comes out. The only thing being tested is whether you stayed.