How to Start When You Have Nothing to Say, Make, Do, Create, or Build

You’re on the right path once you face your darkest creative hour

I got an email from a new client yesterday. The reader was lost, had no idea where to start, was filled with self-doubt, and wondered why anyone would want to read their work. The reader had no formal writing education and didn’t feel equipped to deliver a message.

Perfect.

I like to call this mode ‘creative rock-bottom.’

When we start from this cold, dark place, we’ve got nothing to do but kick-ass from there on-up.

When we’ve got nothing to do, say, create, make, or build — we’re a blank slate. Everyone’s got their own set of experiences and life-lessons. Whether you choose to write fiction or non, you DO have something to say.

You don’t even have to believe in yourself to get started. This is the best part.

I have a ten-step process I used to bring myself-up from the creative abyss. I’m a self-taught writer. I’ve written non-fiction for many years, but about five years ago I took a self-sabbatical and taught myself fiction as well.

You can do this too.

If you’ve ever felt stuck — that no one would care what you’ve got to say — these ten steps are for you.

Not only will this help you choose your life’s-work, but this process will give you a system to help grow your best work, in a safe environment, with big goals, but little danger.

Everyone has something to say. Here’s how you find yours.

10 steps to starting

1. Brainstorm — Think of as many ideas as you’d like for your life. What do you want to do? What would you write if you could write anything? Do you even want to write? What will daily life be like for you? Where will you live? How will you live? Who is with you? Who isn’t with you? Take a day or two. Fill a page or an entire notebook. No idea is stupid. Or too big. Or too crazy. Or wrong. Note everything. We’ll edit in the next step.
2. Dig-down to three — Look at your entire page of notes. Eliminate every idea you like the least. Look at one idea at a time. Think, “is there something on this page I like more than this idea?” If the answer is yes, cross it out. Keep going until you’re left with three, rock-star ideas.
3. Burn the bridges — Take your final three choices and ask yourself “which one do I like the least?” Cross that choice off the list. Perform that exercise one last time on the final two. Your final choice becomes your work that matters most. Scrap the rest of the list. This ONE THING is where you will place all your effort, heart, and soul. You’ll fail. A lot. But this one thing is your compass — the true north.
4. Go all-in — Now you’ve got your thing. Don’t spend any creative time worrying about other projects. Don’t do any research. Don't read any book. Not unless that work is related to your one thing. Take your one idea, don the blinders, and put all your energy into that one thing until you’ve burnt it out.
5. Don’t try — do. Yoda was right. When we’re in a constant state of trying it’s like we’re running a race where they move the finish line as we approach. Choose to do instead. Doing doesn’t mean you’ll do it write, but you’ll be there, in the dirt, with both hands working as hard as you can, moving yourself towards your goal. Doing for the writer means writing every day. This is a muscle. Muscles atrophy fast when you don’t use them. I had shoulder surgery. My arm was in a sling for a month. It took me two years to regain the strength in my arm to pre-surgery levels. One month of atrophy took two years to repair! Just think of what atrophy will do to your best work. Daily habits are 1,000X easier to maintain than sometimes habits.
6. Don’t tell anyone (yet) — While your trying, failing, and do-ing your work every day you’re going to make a lot of garbage. This is the discovery process. This is the way we train ourselves to get better. You will be a horrible self-critic at this point — ruthless, even. The worst thing you can do for your work, at this point, is to share it with others. The situation is too fragile. No, you’re not good yet. I just told you. You don’t have to ask anyone else. If you share you work too soon, while you’re in a fragile, creative state, you’ll drop your best work, kick it under the dresser. And never return to it again. I don’t ever want you to feel this way. You know where you’re headed. There will be time to tell the others later.
7. One project per day — If we want to improve our skills in a creative endeavor we’ve got to practice daily. Commit to one project per day. This doesn’t mean one good project per day. The beauty of this process is that it’s not your job to decide if something is good or not. This is the end-user’s job. We won’t edit. We’ll create. One project per day. Whether that’s one drawing, one little story, or one painting — finish the project before you start the next one.
8. Self-correct — The following day I want you to edit the project you did yesterday. Tear it apart. What do you like? What don’t you like? How can you make today’s project better? Here, we’re taking martial arts approach. When we practice martial arts we do a lot of work before a mirror. A great teacher is critical, but we also must self-correct. If we want to be better tomorrow we need to hone the ability to pick our work apart without feeling terrible. We create the work one day. This day we are free to do what we want without bounds. On the self-correction day we become a different person — stoic and ruthless. If something doesn’t work we find it and fix it. We dump the bad ideas and save the good.
9. Choose one project you love — Whether you’ve created 100 project or five, eventually there will come a day when you create a project you love. This is a project that makes you feel proud of your work. You smile — even surprise yourself by what you’ve done. Maybe it’s something you’ve never seen before anywhere. The project made it through your self-correction phase. The ruthless editor had its way and yet the project made it through the gauntlet, mostly in tact. This is the project you keep. Don’t let the one leave your sight. You may want to make more like this one. But better.
10. Tell the others — Notice, this is the final step, not the first. We wait until we’ve got something we’re proud of before we tell the others. When we feel good about our work, that feeling melts into the way we talk and write about our project. If you’re down about your writing, you’ll share your work like Eeyore. When you tell the others you use a marketing channel that works for you. I like email. Maybe you prefer social media, a podcast, or video. Doesn’t matter what you choose. Go all-in on your marketing too. Choose a channel that fits your personality and tell the others until your voice hurts. Then, return to step 7 and do it again.

It’s time to start

You can do the ten steps over ten days, or cram them into a smaller window — your choice. It depends how bad you want to start.

Starting is the hardest part. But the good thing is you don’t have to be right in the beginning. There’s no right answer with creative work. You’re on the bleeding edge.

If you do something that’s already been done, you haven’t put anything new into the world. We’ve got plenty of this and enough of that. What we need now, is more of what you’ve got.

Now it’s time to grow your fan-base. We’ll do this with email.

If you want to learn how to get your first 1,000 readers (or your next 1,000) without spending a hot nickel on ads, enroll in my Tribe 1K email masterclass below.

We’re waiting for you.

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August Birch (AKA the Book Mechanic) is both a fiction and non-fiction author from Michigan, USA. As a self-appointed guardian of writers and creators, August teaches indies how to make work that sells and how to sell more of that work once it’s created. When he’s not writing or thinking about writing, August carries a pocket knife and shaves his head with a safety razor.