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Getting past the resistance of your inner Debbie Downer is key to being a prolific writer. I will share with you a brief journey and the most beneficial conclusions that have helped me to just shut the fuck up and write.
The voice of not good enough
I have all these ideas swirling around in my head, all these topics and associated thoughts about them, all ready to come out with a little nudge one at a time. Then a voice kicks in, “It’s not good enough.”
The list of ideas, each with its own number on a scale from “not fully mentally constructed” to “ready to be put onto the page”. Then to narrow down the list, my mind goes to this place of judgement. Who wants to read about this? Which idea do I have that more people will want to read about?
This is great stuff for an SEO minded person. How craftily can I weave in keywords and links? How does this story fit into my overall theme that makes my profile more cohesive?
I really want that. I’m always so impressed with artists and writers who have a cohesive body of work. They have found an audience and they are feeding their audience what they want more of. In turn, they are fed by their audience. It’s brilliant stuff.
But what if you haven’t really found your voice yet?
What if you are getting into the groove of writing consistently, and you have a lot of ideas, but getting them onto the page is harder and slower than for the practiced pen?
The critical voice that starts editing before you’ve even started writing is probably the biggest hurdle you’ll confront as a writer on a regular basis. I’m also pretty sure everyone has this voice. I mean, you’d have to be an exceedingly, irritatingly confident person if you never heard this voice.
So, I’m here to tell you that the difference between successful writers and unsuccessful writers is how well they dampen the sound of that voice so they can just get to writing.
Once you’re in a flow and you write often, all the other parts of writing become easier. For example, researching subjects, formulating outlines, composing draft headlines, etc.
All of that stuff is important, but none of it is more important that actually writing something. Anything. It will get you there.
Here are a few tips to help frame your mind to letting it all go.
- That critical voice in your head is not really your voice. It’s the voice of doubt. The voice of fear. Both can be managed easily by remembering a couple of things. First, the only thing anyone ever has over you, is how much they are less afraid of something than you are. Second, no matter where you are in your complex hierarchy of importance or knowledgeability in your mind, there is always going to be someone better and someone lamer than you. And many of those people are writers (and readers, obviously).
- Purging on the page does not require formatting. If all you have is a few sentences, put them on the page anyway. If they are not related, who cares. You can split them up later. Give yourself permission to be critical later.
- Four things can happen if you publish a complete garbage story that embarrases you it sucks so bad. Like, if anyone knew you wrote this and tied it to you they would never date you or you might lose your day job because your boss would realize how dumb you are. A. Someone will read it and love it. B. Someone will read it and dislike it but you will still benefit from their reading of it. (stats) C. No one will read it and they will never know what a shitty story it was. D. Someone will read it and hate it and they will cause a cascade of misery for you so bad you will never write again or at the very least hide in a hole and cry about how bad your writing is. But you will still benefit from them having read it (stats).
- I think you get the point and see now that even bad writing is better than no writing and its very unlikely there won’t be anyone who likes your story and equally unlikely anyone will hate it so much to cause a fury in your life over it.
In conclusion, it’s a lot easier to just write rather than try to analyse and plan the whole thing through beforehand. I promise you that there are gems in your mind if you just let go and put your thoughts on the page. Your audience is out there no matter what you write about.
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