The beginning

The beginning for any writer can be the most difficult of times: your first writings, your first contact with other writers via websites or workgroups, your first foray into the publishing world as you search for an agent or publisher. And, of course, that first rejection. Another 'beginning' is the start of a new project. This has always been my most difficult time - I couldn't count the number of times I've had to start again with a different chapter, or I've had to do a rewrite.
Perhaps the worst a writer can do is to write when they're not ready. I guess I've done that too many times, and my work has suffered for it. In that respect, a writer can do much worse than to seek some kind of help - professional writing help.
The best advice I could give to anyone is to join a workgroup or forum. There may be one near where you live. But unless it is exceptional and has published authors or publishing-world connections, then I would suggest you cut a corner and look online. There are links on this blog to the two most important writer websites in my own writing experience on the internet.
Critters was my first influential website 'home'. I was knocked into a better shape in next to no time. Of course, I still had much to learn - I always will - but the experience of other eyes and voices questioning my work was invaluable.
Litopia followed some time after. It has grown into a website of great potential - both for the writer and the agent. I can't believe that Litopia will be a one-off. Other agents in the industry will surely follow suit.
At Litopia, I learned an invaluable lesson concerning 'the beginning' - the reason for this post. I learned that a writer needed to think about the beginning, and the rest of the book with it, at the beginning. Instead of diving in and writing away, as I had always done, there needed to be some sort of plan, a structure, before doing so. Otherwise, the writer will invariably end up in a bit of a mess before emerging out the other side. Sometimes they don't emerge at all, and the writing is abandoned, or, as is more likely to be the case, it is maybe not worth the read.
So, when it came to my latest work, I knew I had to begin things differently. I didn't want to repeat the mistakes of the past. I thought about it, made some notes, discussed it with people I trusted, then thought about it again, and made more notes. It was quite a long time before I actually began to write. But it was the most promising beginning to anything I've ever written. There was a structure in my head as well as in my notes. I haven't made a mountain of notes, nor are they very extensive. But I've found I'm able to refer to them in order to clear my mind about something. I'll write more notes as I go along, I'm sure. I feel so much happier about my latest work. A good beginning has to be better than a bad one! Notes, and some planning, contributed very much to that.