Okay, so maybe I’m not so great at updating this every day. I think it’s partially because I have no idea if anyone’s even reading it. Haven’t had one comment yet, so I feel like I’m talking to myself.
Anyway, I just finished reading Stephen King’s On Writing again. I’d read it many years ago when it first came out, but I thought enough time passed that it would be beneficial to reread it. I was right. I like the way he, without any extraneous guff, really nails the writing process. I need to try more of the “write the first draft with the door closed” philosophy—I run into trouble because I tend to write a bit, then reread/edit it, then write a bit more, etc. Usually this works out fairly well for me, but when I get to parts where I’m not sure where to go next (or I’m paralyzed by the fear that what I’m doing isn’t going to be good enough), I need to kick myself in the butt and just write something. Even if it sucks, at least it’s there to critique, and maybe pull something good out of. But if there’s nothing there, then I can’t improve on anything.
This is particularly amusing because I’m writing this while I procrastinate from working on a project I’m about halfway through, because I’ve hit a part where I’m worried that whatever I put down, it won’t be good enough, fast enough, exciting enough.
I guess I should go work on it anyway, huh?
By the way, if by some chance you are reading this and haven’t commented yet because you don’t have anything to say, please do me a favor: just say something in the comments. I don’t care if it’s “<grunt>.” I just want to know if anyone’s reading. Thanks!
You sound like you write like I do, but I’ve seen your finished works, so you are getting through them somehow. Funny, I read the other King too, On Writing, and tried what he said, but never quite got it to work.
I was tooling along on a story and got to a scene that I just couldn’t get down in words, then got feedback on some of what had preceded it, which only put further complications on the blocked scene. 2.5 years later, I figured out a way to sort of get around the scene, but now am wondering if it is worth writing any more. So the next scene is not flowing, but is fighting, kicking and pouting to get put to words.