I’ve been doing a bit of introspection.
At first, I imagined my lack of progress on my current story was because writing fiction didn’t mean all that much to me.
And that my lack of BICHOK (Butt In Chair, Hands on Keyboard) activity was the evidence of that.
However, after further consideration (I’m an INFP*, so I do that a lot, lol) I’ve decided that the truth is, my writing means TOO MUCH to me.
Let me explain.
My perfectionist tendencies are the outward display of an inner editor/critic who is a workaholic. When I sit down to write, she/he/it? continually screams in my ear that I’m an imposter. A fake. A fraud.
I know what you’re thinking.
“So? This happens to lots of writers, no matter how long they’ve been writing.”
Yes, that’s what I’ve read…and I’ve no doubt it’s true.
And it’s something I’ll have to learn to put up with too.
However, my point is that the “caring too much” aspect puts me in the “this has to be right” and “this is work” mindset, rather than the “I’m just telling myself a story” mindset.
Which results in not just sitting down to tell myself a story.
In other words, not PRACTICING!
So what if the story’s not told perfectly? If writing a story is something that I think is FUN to do, then I’ll do it. But if it’s NOT FUN, then I won’t do it, at least not consistently. I’ll dig in my heels and make the excuse that I “don’t have time” or “I’ll do it later.”
Sure, I want people to enjoy my books, but it’s precisely because I want people to enjoy them that I put so much pressure on getting things “right”.
So from now on I’m reminding myself that:
- You have to PRACTICE to get better
- PRACTICING consistently makes it easier to get into “the groove” again
- Tell a story that you want to hear
- Perfection is the enemy of DONE
- Are you having FUN?
- Words are NOT precious…delete what you don’t need and make more!
The bottom line is, even if I never sold another book, I enjoy telling stories, so why not use that to my advantage? It will take the pressure off and let me actually get the writing DONE!
BTW – the link below will take you to a website where you can get your own personality profile done. It’s kind of interesting if you’re into introspection like me, lol!
