'Just get on the plane'

When I opened my FB account (Facebook for the uninitiated) early this morning, this was the message that greeted me:

Hi, arvin!

Good thing ur online...

would just like to ask some favor from you, that is if ur not that busy..

would u mind making an article for a publication intended for the first year and transferee students?

its about how it is being a first year college student in holy cross. a short page will... of course, we will be giving you an honorarium for this undertaking..

please say yes....

I read the message over and over. Then suddenly I remembered what William Zinsser said in On Writing Well. If there's a writing assignment, he said, just get on the plane. (I don't exactly know if those were the exact words because I'm quoting from memory.)

So without spending too much time thinking over the matter, I accepted the project. "Just get on the plane," I told my self.