This is the fourth day breaking down common writer obstacles I see and giving you strategies to overcome them.
Because I hate seeing writers with stories that need to be shared, facing obstacles that prevent them from writing. The world wants your stories!
Today we’re looking at a big one.
Obstacle #4
My story’s gotta be perfect.
Your writing has to be perfect before you show it to anyone. And your writing for sure has to be perfect before you self-publish, start querying agents, or submit it anywhere for publication. Right?
Nope!
Here’s the deal. Your writing will never be perfect.
Sorry. Not sorry. That’s the truth.
No one’s writing is perfect.
Even after something’s published you’ll see things you want to change.
Yeah, that’s how it goes.
So stop that perfection thing once and for all!
Easier said than done. I know.
When you understand why so many writers fall into the perfection-seeking pitfall, it’s easier to let go and embrace imperfect action.
Wanting your story, your concept, your characters, your language, your metaphors, your imagery – everything about your writing – to be perfect is often a symptom of fear. Fear that your writing isn’t good enough. Fear that your story will be rejected.
Write through the fear. Instead of rewriting and rewriting and editing and editing, or worse, not writing anything at all, focus on writing the best that you can right now. Even if you think what you’re writing isn’t any good (trust me, you’re wrong. Everything has potential).
Once you’ve written the best you can right now, submit.
I recommend you start small. Share your story with a writing friend. With a writing group. Ask for only positive feedback the first few times you submit if that will make you more likely to submit.
Next month, next year, in five years, your skills and knowledge will be different, and more experienced. And your writing will still be imperfect.
So you might as well write imperfectly and finish the story you’re working on now.
If you’re already editing a finished draft, edit it the best you can right now.
Commit to a deadline to finish your draft. And stick with it. This will stop you from falling into the “I’ve-been-working-on-this-story-for-15-years-trap.”
Anne Lamott famously coined the concept of sh*tty first drafts in her book, Bird by Bird (which, by the way, I highly recommend you read!).
The idea is that you focus on getting the story down on the page and DONE, and accept it’s going to be rough and just plain bad in places. Then you revise and begin working on the next draft.
Inside the Story Immersion Project world, the first draft is a blueprint draft. My course, Immersed in Story shows you how to develop a story with a clear direction, solid premise, structure, and strong concepts for compelling characters. So that you can write that imperfect blueprint draft you can build on and eventually publish.
Today, commit to taking massive imperfect action: write your imperfect blueprint draft with the help of my course, Immersed in Story.
You may surprise yourself!
