Getting That First Paragraph Right

"When I'm starting a book, I compose in bed before I go to sleep. I will lie there in the dark and think. I'll try to write a paragraph. An opening paragraph. And over a period of weeks and months and even years, I'll word and reword it until I'm happy with what I've got. If I can get that first paragraph right, I'll know I can do the book."

Stephen King is quoted here from The Atlantic, and I wonder how many of us share this trait with him.

My life as a writer would be a lot easier if I could just vomit words on paper to get past the first paragraph, to write the story in its entirety only to then go back and revise that opening paragraph.

But I can't.

I'll spend months working over the first paragraph, trying to find the right voice, the right angle, and until then, I don't feel the connection with the story to write it all.

So thank goodness I'm not alone.  

And still, Stephen King cranks out 2,000 words a day. Onward...