Stuck, Stuck, Stuck!

Grr! The Dorothy Devereux story I mentioned 2 posts ago has run into a standstill. The opening bit I think turned out okay, but from then on! I just despise it when I can write something, but it turns out so awful and dully plodding that I just can't stand it! This is the opening bit:

My name is Dorothy Devereaux, and this is my story.
It isn’t a particularly exciting tale, but it is a story nonetheless and I am determined to convey it to the best of my ability, so that it may be known to future generations and not be mangled by confusion, rumour and misunderstanding.

Now, that turned out good. It sounds Elizabethan. But then... I think it might go better if I wrote it in third person instead of first, but I want it to be in first person. Grr. My characters are on strike, as a friend once termed it.

Dorothy and Penelope Devereux around the time of my story.

When I look at this painting, I get a rush of inspiration of a general idea of how I want the story to be, but the actual wording is what is so greatly vexing me at the moment.