False Starts

Ok...it's way past time to begin Book 4 in my JMP History Mystery Detective Agency for kids. Every year for the past three, I sat down in January and knocked out a great book. Just like that! 

As a new writer, I have heard lots about the dreaded "Writer's Block." Oh no, not me, I chortled to myself. I know what I want to say, and I sit down and say it. The characters kick in and take over; before I know it, the end of another great Jinx and Max book magically appears. So what's different this year? What's the matter this time that I've had all these false starts with nothing to show for it?

Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself. After all, I have been researching my topic throughout the fall and winter. I've gathered some good resources. I get all excited, then loose it because I fail to start the first chapter. But it looks so overwhelming from this end of the project. 

I slow my racing thoughts and  remember starting the research for the last book, Pirate Problems. I felt the same way. I couldn't possibly speak like a pirate and sound like I knew what I was talking about when the whole book was based on a nautical theme. I couldn't do one more book. I'm not good enough...I'm not really a writer. Whine, whine, whine. Then came a point when I kicked my self into action- the day that I cranked out the first chapter. And it was ok again.

Won't someone please kick me in the pants and tell me to stop whining? Tell me, "Just do it, Whiner!"

Help!