Every now and then, I find myself hating every word I put down. Whether it's something I've written for the blog, a piece of fiction, a poem, or song lyrics, nothing I do feels like it's working and I feel like giving up.
And sometimes I do, I give up. I take a break and come back to it when I'm feeling more inspired. Or, I start something completely new that doesn't suck quite as much.
Breaks can be a wonderful thing and give you the rest your mind needs to generate fresh content. However, they can also be dangerous if you let them stretch on indefinitely, and often times I find that it's hard to get back in the groove if I allow myself to take more than a day or two off.
The real trick, I believe is to just keep writing and let go of any concern about whether or not what you've written is good. Just Write. Write, write, write, write, write.
In the end, it doesn't matter if it's good. It matters that you got it done. Once it's complete, you can go back and clean it up. Give it a read and then edit the hell out of it if you have to. If you wind up reducing it to 3 sentences and find yourself faced with a complete and utter rewrite, so be it. Don't stress about it, just do what you have to do to make your piece shine.
As hard as it is, you have to let go of your ideas of perfection and any lingering doubt about what the nebulous "they" will think of your work. The truth is, no matter how great your writing is, there will be people who don't like it for whatever reason and ultimately, those people don't matter. What matters is the people who do like it, even if you only have an audience of one. Think about it, if you've touched even one person with your words, haven't you done your job? Isn't that something to be proud of?
So, roll up your sleeves and put pen to paper. Let the words tumble out of you as they come up and then worry about the fine-tuning. Tune out the voices that are telling you that it isn't good enough and look at it objectively. Is it up to your standards? If so, it's good enough. Give yourself a pat on the back and put it out there with confidence and a smile.
You've got this.
Also linked up at: Share With Me, Wine'd Down Wednesday, That Friday Blog Hop
And sometimes I do, I give up. I take a break and come back to it when I'm feeling more inspired. Or, I start something completely new that doesn't suck quite as much.
Breaks can be a wonderful thing and give you the rest your mind needs to generate fresh content. However, they can also be dangerous if you let them stretch on indefinitely, and often times I find that it's hard to get back in the groove if I allow myself to take more than a day or two off.
The real trick, I believe is to just keep writing and let go of any concern about whether or not what you've written is good. Just Write. Write, write, write, write, write.
In the end, it doesn't matter if it's good. It matters that you got it done. Once it's complete, you can go back and clean it up. Give it a read and then edit the hell out of it if you have to. If you wind up reducing it to 3 sentences and find yourself faced with a complete and utter rewrite, so be it. Don't stress about it, just do what you have to do to make your piece shine.
As hard as it is, you have to let go of your ideas of perfection and any lingering doubt about what the nebulous "they" will think of your work. The truth is, no matter how great your writing is, there will be people who don't like it for whatever reason and ultimately, those people don't matter. What matters is the people who do like it, even if you only have an audience of one. Think about it, if you've touched even one person with your words, haven't you done your job? Isn't that something to be proud of?
So, roll up your sleeves and put pen to paper. Let the words tumble out of you as they come up and then worry about the fine-tuning. Tune out the voices that are telling you that it isn't good enough and look at it objectively. Is it up to your standards? If so, it's good enough. Give yourself a pat on the back and put it out there with confidence and a smile.
You've got this.
Also linked up at: Share With Me, Wine'd Down Wednesday, That Friday Blog Hop
