Push through, slowly, ever so slowly, until you type that very last page. [...] And a blank page cannot be edited.
Very well said, and rightfully so. You've no idea, though, how long it must have taken me to grasp that essential truth. ;-)
My own writing process regularly tends to be clogged by a battle between me and my inner censor, so I have to take great care to keep active writing and editing two separate steps, the first step being the one that is only there for my own personal enjoyment and during which I don't have to answer to anyone.
Yes. We do have to find some way to bottle up and turn off that censor. Anne Lamott says it best: “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something-anything-down on paper. What I’ve learned to do when I sit down to work on a shitty first draft is to quiet the voices in my head.”
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Very well said, and rightfully so. You've no idea, though, how long it must have taken me to grasp that essential truth. ;-)
My own writing process regularly tends to be clogged by a battle between me and my inner censor, so I have to take great care to keep active writing and editing two separate steps, the first step being the one that is only there for my own personal enjoyment and during which I don't have to answer to anyone.
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