On beginning new and scary endeavors

Despite what they say, the first time is not, in my experience, the hardest.

Just start, they say. Just begin, and then it’ll get easier from there. You’ll be over “the hump,” whatever that is. But it does not always get easier from there. Sometimes, it gets much harder. Sometimes—like in martial arts—on your first day, everyone is probably taking it easy on you and just sort of playing with you, because you are simply not a threat (yet).

Then, later, once you can begin to irritate your training partners, it gets harder. They make it harder. This is a compliment. Your increased skill has merited increased pressure.

Anyway. Hello. I’m SC. I live in the Pacific Northwest, I’m a hobbyist jiujitsu player, and I write technical materials for a living and fiction for my soul. This is my blog. It exists, now.

And as a complete aside, I’ve started two short stories and a flash piece this week, none of which are anywhere near complete.

Beginnings might actually be the easiest part of most endeavors. Maybe finishing is the hardest part. That’s generally the part that the people who set deadlines are most concerned about. Suppose I should get on with that.