It's such a struggle sometimes. I vacillate on how to start every story, pondering, flopping around like a fish. I feel like so much of my story depends on that first paragraph, that first sentence.

Once I have that out of the way, the whole flavor of the story is set and then there's SO MUCH TO DO. It's like coming into work after being on vacation for a month. Desk is full of things to be done.

That's how the story writing feels to me. You just have so many things you want to say and things to describe because everything feels hopelessly shallow at the beginning, but you have to pace yourself. As you say, just stick it out.