Procrastination and the fear of failing

by Mehdi Kasbel
19th December 2014

Once again I'm about to start a work that counts for me and that I'm shaping in my head for many weeks, without putting on paper much than a first paragraph

And once again I have this bad feeling that if write down what I have in mind, it will not be as good as what I have imagined, and that all this work will collapse like a house of cards...

So, once again, I'm in this atermoiement phase that I really dislike !

Any writer's trick to fight it ?

Replies

I find myself adding to this with nothing more worthwhile than encouragement. it really doesn't matter what you write to start with just get some stuff out of your head, bit like making dinner, first the idea, then the trip to the store, then the big bit... getting the stuff out of the bag and onto the kitchen counter where you can see your idea in front of you.It is then you break the eggs and see both white and yoke, mix em up and you get a snack, throw all the other ingredients in and you get a meal you can share. bit flowery I know but unless you go further than your recipe you will never taste or share your brain's delights.

sorry I do go on a bit but JUST don't want you to JUST do nothing. I read I think, or heard the only failure is failing to try.

Regards and sharpen your pencil NOW!!! Paul G

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Paul
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Paul Garside
21/12/2014

Write something down to get you started, otherwise you'll be constantly editing something that's not there.

As Gilbert suggested, write whatever comes to mind in note form first. After you have a load of notes, look over them, find the ones that connect, the ones you can keep and the ones you can get rid of.

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Andrew Newall
19/12/2014

Writing is utter solitude, the descent into the cold abyss of oneself - Franz Kafka

Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand - George Orwell

If I waited for perfection… I would never write a word - Margaret Atwood

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Adrian Sroka
19/12/2014