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I haven't written much about doing creative work recently, but today someone told me they'd been feeling like writing but also afraid their writing was bad. was stopping them. So this is to all of you with spare tine who are too scared to write in case it's bad. >>
Every book starts as a draft. Most books start as a bad draft. Your job, as counter intuitive as it feels, is to write a draft which is very likely to be bad, for such is the way of drafts. (It's in the job description, page 492. Go look.)
Your ego wants it to be good. Your ego thinks you should be able to write a novel in one go, never looking back, certainly never cutting out loads of waffle, or forgetting to develop your plot or ensure your story is holding it together.
If you give your ego free rein, you might never finish the book. You might instead bury what you've done in the deepest underground lair where nameless monsters prowl. You'll hear it crying to be set free, but you won't go help it.
That's why we ignore the ego until the draft is finished. We pat it on the back, tell it not to worry and leap into action, knocking back any monsters that come calling with the pen, which we all know is mightier than the sword.
But I use a computer, crazy editor person, I hear you saying. Little known fact: the keyboard can be used like a peregrine falcon.
Bet you didn't see that coming. Now go. Slay the monsters. Write the world. Or, you know, something.
Bet you didn't see that coming. Now go. Slay the monsters. Write the world. Or, you know, something.
