New Year, New Beginnings... But Where to Start?
- Kathryn Daniel
- Jan 15
- 3 min read
Every story has to start somewhere. Yet starting is often the hardest part. The blank page- nemesis of writers everywhere- can be as daunting as it is alluring. But New Year is exactly the time to begin something new. And here's why...
Every story starts with two magical words: What if? The possible answers are endless and that's what electrifies a writer. There's no limitation to imagination. Especially in the early stages. Before we get to the hows and whys and 'should that happen theres'. Because every story, no matter how it's told or how complex it may become, starts with an idea.
An idea that, with enough what ifs, grows into something captivating... a tale with heart and plot twists that could compel the most reluctant reader (or viewer).
Most writers keep a notebook... in their handbag or glove box, next to their bed or on their phone. Other (less organised, ahem) writers make do with scraps of paper, which pile up on their desk until they can find any of said notebooks, which never seem to be where they're ought to. And that is where most ideas stay. A simple sentence, perhaps a page of dialogue, a character profile or a simple scene layout. A potential gem that you'd get round to sometime but never do.
"A 'poet's' notebook? Hardly. Rather, a compost heap. It's difficult to pitchfork individual hunks of material out of it, because they're all in the process of settling in together and undergoing a chemical/physical change that sometimes results in poems".
The Poet's Notebook
Because ideas come fast and furious. Usually at three o'clock in the morning. But developing them, writing them in full and editing them into something readable, never mind publishable... That's something altogether different.
And what if you've never written a story before? What if the prospect of starting a whole new project, be it book, script, poem or other is just downright overwhelming? But what if that last idea, the one you can't quite shake off... what if it's the seed of a masterpiece?
So here it is (finally)... the reason to start something new for New Year 2026 and it's simple. Even if the prospect of writing a(nother) story is like standing at the base of Kilamanjaro, walking boots and backpack on with your passport in one hand and ticket home, ready to run, in the other...
Because you already have.
New Year; when resolutions are made and broken before the end of January. When we 'give up' on things we tend to enjoy and promise ourselves all manner of self-improvements. No wonder most of us fail before we've even started. That kind of New Year is more punishment than it is potential. But what if it wasn't?
What if you rewarded yourself with something you enjoy? Deciding to start a new project this new year isn't a punishment if it's doing what you love. Trying something new doesn't have to mean slogging for months to see results in the distant future, maybe.
Because creativity therapeutic. And writing, though tough at times, is the kind of instant dopamine hit that doesn't come from endless scrolling. It comes from you. Seeing a scene come alive on the page in front of you; finally writing 'the end' on a draft you've been working on... it's the Michelin star of self-improvement. It's you on the page- your ideas and your hard work. And it's something to be proud of next December 31st.
So go on, give yourself a year. Don't make 2026 the year of more failed resolutions. Try something new with Orwrite's programme of beginners' classes. Lean into your own creativity and explore the what ifs to find (and write) the story you've always wanted to read. You've already had the idea after all... so really, you've already started.
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