Hello!
It’s link-up time! I hope you’ve had a great week.
If you’re new to Five Minute Friday, welcome! We offer a one-word prompt every week and encourage bloggers, writers, and wannabe writers to freewrite for five minutes flat on the given prompt.
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This week’s FMF writing prompt is: START
Setting my timer for five minutes, and . . . GO.
Some people say starting is the hardest part.
I know it’s mostly true for me. Let’s be honest — finishing is hard, too.
I’m good at starting multiple things at once, then not finishing any of them. I’m guilty of this habit with books as well. I can start four or five books in a period of two or three weeks, then dip in and out of them without fully committing to finishing one at a time.
My writing life can be similar. Sometimes I get so excited about so many ideas all at once, and I get distracted by all the options. I may even start brainstorming or outlining a number of different projects, then never see them through to completion because I get another idea that sways my attention.
But sometimes starting really is the hardest part. Sometimes I overthink things to such a great extent that I persuade myself the effort is not worth it. I won’t succeed, so why even bother trying?
I let fear creep in and rule the day. I shrink from the work that would be required to do a good job, so I don’t do anything at all.
Can you relate?
Do you start many things and not finish, or not start at all?
What steps can we take to overcome the obstacles we face in this area, especially as writers?
Maybe some accountability would help. I’ve found that just speaking my ideas out loud to someone else helps a lot, especially if I ask them to follow up on me to see how I’m doing with my goals.
Do you have someone like that in your life?
If you’re struggling to get started or to finish what you’ve already begun, take some time this week to prioritize your goals, then share them with someone else. Ask them to check up with you every now and then (or every week) to see how you’re doing. Then just start.

         Photo credit: Natalie Bardo
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RELATED RESOURCES:
Start with Your People:
The Daily Decision that Changes Everything
by Brian Dixon
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Affiliate links used in this post
I haven’t read Brian Dixon’s new book yet but I’ve heard a lot of wonderful things about it, and I’ve sat under Brian’s teaching and coaching a number of times. He knows his stuff! I really appreciate his values and priorities, and I’m sure this book will reflect his heart.
Start-Up Guide for Online Christian Writers
I wrote this ebook as a resource for Christian writers looking for direction and guidance on the next steps.
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If you’re looking for some motivation and accountability in your writing life,
be sure to sign up for the 31-Day Writing Challenge happening October 1-31, 2019:
Registration is open until September 30th
We also have an optional paperback journal available that includes all 31 of the prompts we’ll be using in October. You’re welcome to get the journal even if you don’t plan to participate in the challenge:
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JOIN THE LINK-UP BELOW with your own five minute free write, then visit your link-up neighbor to read their post and leave an encouraging comment:
I’ve started so darn many things,
and now have to see them fail.
Books and jobs, a dream of wings,
so much shall not set sail!
I think I would have seen them through
had not cancer intervened,
and now I must brace to the true
depth of loss, and what it means.
And there is something odd, right here,
a lack of tragedy and sorrow.
‘Twas still a good trip (oh, how queer!),
and there’s a bit left for tomorrow.
The books and planes won’t be complete,
but each moment there is still a treat.
Deadlines always help motivate me to start…and finish projects. I find that if I don’t have a deadline, I procrastinate and then end up feeling frustrated.
I. Just. Don’t. Start. Signed, the Procrastination Queen
Cindy, you crack me up!