Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Writing and fear

Writing Accomplished: important time travel scene accomplished
Writing Goal: more lunch work
Recommended Website: MamasInk - http://www.mamasink.com/node/74

Flamingo suggested I post my writings on my blog to get some feedback. Oi!

Not gonna happen. But then I considered why that was not going to happen. At first I justified my immediate response with excuses such as, "It's a first draft, it's allowed to be shitty. I don't want to have shitty work criticized" and "I will forego first publishing rights if I post my work." I mean, let's get serious. The first excuse may have some merit, but it still comes back to the fear of writing 'good enough.'

One of the ways I've decided to deal with this is by not reading and re-reading what I've written. I HAVE to get through this first draft. If I were to post my work now, I would get sick with fear of how bad it is. But, that's okay! It can be bad! Why would I put myself back into a predicament of feeling my writing has to come out perfect the first time?

On MamasInk, Monica and Ericka (who teach a course called Fear In Fiction) say writers "need the fear. It means we're ready to stir things up, work deeply. And we believe that by working with the fear, letting the fear be a guide, we can find our way in to the real, the deep, the true."

I will believe this as my truth.

What frees you up to write without fear?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Everbody has to have fear. I think not only writers need that. Fear is something that can potentially frive the positive things inside a man. For instance, fear of failures have been a catalyst that motivates people to be achievers. Other fears do the same. It is just matter of facing them squarely.