I’ve moved beyond the stage of not writing because I felt that I didn’t have anything to say. I’m now in the perfectionist stage–unsure of the strength of my voice, the validity of my message, and fearing I lack the skills to pull it off. I’m tired of being stuck in this rut, but I am afraid to move forward. It is safe to stay where I am; there is no risk and no chance of failure.
I realize that I am failing to live up to my dreams and my potential. I am wasting so much time thinking and complaining about my lack of progress. I am also procrastinating by finding books to read on creativity (Ha!) and by doing endless amounts of research. Every once in a while, I say to myself “Enough is enough! Sit down and write the damn thing before your head explodes.” But I don’t, because I have some obligation to fulfill or something “more important” comes up.
So why don’t I start on my book tonight? Well, I have a couple of obligations to fulfill, and I hate to let people down… expect myself, obviously.
Needleworker, Knitter, Crocheter, Sewist, Cricuteer, and more!
Have you looked into NaNoWriMo project? Writing a messy movel in one month does wondersfor the confidence where creative writing is concerned. No one ever has to read it; the point is to drop the inner critic and just get 50K words down on paper (er, in a file… you know what I mean). It’s a tremendously beneficial exercise.
Here’s a column on the NaNoWriMo exercise, written bylast year’s Montreal Liason (and he’ll be liasing this year too):
http://trapdoor.cosmic-muse.com/thetsshow.html
If there’s a new column up, scroll down to September 5, 2004; it should be right below the Spet. 12 column.