Not sure what it is about beginnings. When I write, I have a plan, a plot, characters sorted, action pending, rah, rah, rah – and because I write multiple threads, there are multiple ways to get started (which ought to make it easier), yet it seems that no matter where I choose to launch from, there is always this little starting dance that happens first. I hop from one choice to another and generally pussy-foot around, indecisive as to what will work best. This slows me down because until I can get this sorted out, I don’t have the pace for the rest of the book. That beginning sets the pace.

Sometimes I work it in reverse, or try to, and get on with what I know comes next, trusting that the pace will force the beginning into compliance. It’s bad news, though, if that doesn’t work because then I have to shuffle around those multiple threads and, if they are time dependent and reflect against each other, that upsets the balance – which equals a big re-write.

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