How do you wrap an elephant for Christmas?

I find that the hardest bits of writing projects are the beginning and the end (although the middle can sometimes be pretty tough going too). At the start, it is hard to take the step of converting an idea into reality: the blank page is forbidding, but so is the act of making a mark. And at the end, it is hard to take the step of completing a draft, and facing all those moments when you thought, ‘This isn’t good enough: I’ll sort it out in the next draft.’

One way to get through beginnings and endings (and other steps that I need momentum and energy for) is to tell people what I’m planning to do. They may not care, but, once I’ve said something out loud, I feel rather more obliged to actually do it. 

That’s what I’m going to do this week and next week: share some thoughts on one writing project which is nearly finished, and one which is about to begin.