The Beginner

Teagan sighed as she leaned back in her office chair. She looked at her laptop’s blank screen, cursor blinking, mocking her—daring her to write something. Anything.

She wondered why it was so hard to be a writer. Over the last year, Teagan had taken writing courses, watched videos, and read books on writing, yet most days, she struggled to put words to page. She felt like a rank amateur, unqualified and unprepared. A beginner. 

As she agonized over her quandary, she gazed out the window of her little study and admired her backyard trees, their plumage of red, orange, and yellow in full autumn glory. She thought for a moment about that word, “plumage.” She knew that plumage was supposed to describe a bird’s feathers, but she couldn’t think of a better word to describe the vibrant fall colors. One word, many possibilities. 

She decided to free-write and see where it leads, no matter how dumb it might seem. She typed “plumage,” then “tree,” and in rapid succession, “leaves, trunk, chest, treasure, gold, and pirates.” Soon, she was madly typing—words flowing in an endless stream—as she became totally immersed in a swashbuckling pirate adventure on the high seas. 

She stopped after an hour to review her progress, surprised to have written nearly two thousand words. Enough to start the first chapter of a new book. “I’ll call it Blackbeard’s Revenge,” she declared. 

Teagan remembered the writer’s block that plagued her, and she realized that maybe writing wasn’t so hard after all. “I don’t know why I struggle so, when all I need to do is start with one word,” she concluded. “I guess I really am a beginner. I only need to begin.”