I view writing a lot like how others view exercise—if I turn the practice into a daily ritual, after a while, it will feel as typical as eating breakfast and doing laundry. I don’t want to view writing as a chore in any sense; after all, it’s supposed to be fun. But facing that blank page every day is certainly daunting, and many wannabe writers feel too threatened by it to face the task of writing his or her first novel.