Discipline, not excuses, makes a writer.

If you think writing is too difficult—that you don’t have time or aren’t in the mood—consider this incredible story of a Parisian journalist who wrote under inconceivable circumstances.

“In the imagination and dreams of people who are cut off from the world, words are ballet dancers.” —Jean-Dominique Bauby

Jean-Dominique Bauby, an editor at Elle magazine, thrived in the fast-paced, glam world of fashion and media. Then, at 43, the lifestyle he cherished vanished in an instant. A massive stroke left him with locked-in syndrome—fully conscious but completely paralyzed, unable to speak or even breathe without assistance. The only part of his body he could control was his left eyelid.

That single functioning eyelid became his writing tool. A transcriber named Claude Mendibil would hold up a card with the alphabet, pointing at the letters in order of frequency in the French language. When she reached the letter he wanted, he blinked. Letter by letter, over two months, blinking three hours a day, he composed The Diving Bell and the Butterfly—an extraordinary memoir of imagination and memory. Some 200,000 blinks in total.

“In my head I churn over every sentence ten times, delete a word, add an adjective, and learn my text by heart, paragraph by paragraph.” (JDB)

Most writers’ obstacles pale in comparison. Yet, self-doubt, procrastination, and perfectionism paralyze us just as effectively. But writing doesn’t wait for perfection. Writing happens in imperfect conditions.

Whenever I feel like writing is too much of a chore or when I don’t have the “right mindset,” I think about this remarkable writer. Bauby had every reason not to write. He could have surrendered to despair, to the impossibility of his condition, but he refused to pity himself.

If you’re tired, write badly. If you’re uninspired, write something meaningless. If you’re busy, steal five minutes. The writer who writes imperfectly still moves forward; the one who doesn’t write at all stays stuck.

Jean-Dominique Bauby wrote under unimaginable circumstances. What’s stopping you?