Starting messy (but starting anyway)

I've been thinking a lot about "messy middles" lately. Some writers complain about the middle chunk of a large project — the challenge of pacing, juggling multiple plotlines, etc. For others, this is their favorite part. I think I'm in the latter camp.

My strategy for escaping the dreading blank page is usually to start with a scene that's packed with context and work my way outward in either direction. The original first chapter for my novel is now chapter 5, but writing it helped me figure out what questions I wanted readers to start chewing on before that scene in order for it to flow smoother, if that makes sense.