Dear Jerry-The way to do a piece of writing is 3 or 4 times, never one. For me, the hardest part comes first, getting something--anything--out in front of me. Sometimes in a nervous frenzy I just fling words as if I were flinging mud at a wall. Blurt out, heave out, babble out something--anything--as a first draft. With that, you have achieved a sort of nucleus. et seq.