Deadlines work wonders

I’ll second this.

For a long time, I knew I wanted to be a writer, but I would sit in front of a blank screen and nothing would come out. Sometimes I would write a sentence. If I was lucky, I’d get a paragraph.

That went on for years. Paralyzed by self-doubt.

What finally broke the trance? Signing up for a creative writing class. Suddenly I had a deadline and I had to produce a story.

Took me two months to write that first 15-page story. But I did it.

And now I can write 15 pages in 2 days. A single day, if I really push myself.