Personal Development for Smart People Forums - View Single Post

Keith · 12-29-2007, 10:24 AM

Pity you just missed NaNoWriMo. No, don't wait until the next one to get started.

I don't know what your block is, and it sounds like maybe you don't either. I'm guessing that you have implementation anxiety, but maybe not.

Either way, my suggestion is to sit down for X minutes a day and write. It really doesn't matter if, while you're writing, you think "this is absolute rubbish!". It really doesn't matter if it doesn't quite make sense. That's great! Once you have something written down, you can push the words around until you're happy with them. Absolute rubbish is a thousand-fold more useful than a blank page.

Write page #16. Then page #17. Once you've got all the pages down, then go back and edit. You'll probably have to change whole chunks but that's fine. For now, you're just providing the raw written material needed for that process.

12-29-2007, 10:24 AM	#3 (permalink)
Keith Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Australia Posts: 1,130	Pity you just missed NaNoWriMo. No, don't wait until the next one to get started. I don't know what your block is, and it sounds like maybe you don't either. I'm guessing that you have implementation anxiety, but maybe not. Either way, my suggestion is to sit down for X minutes a day and write. It really doesn't matter if, while you're writing, you think "this is absolute rubbish!". It really doesn't matter if it doesn't quite make sense. That's great! Once you have something written down, you can push the words around until you're happy with them. Absolute rubbish is a thousand-fold more useful than a blank page. Write page #16. Then page #17. Once you've got all the pages down, then go back and edit. You'll probably have to change whole chunks but that's fine. For now, you're just providing the raw written material needed for that process. __________________ When people see things as beautiful, ugliness is created. When people see things as good, evil is created. When the way is forgotten, 'morality' and 'piety' need to be taught. -Dao De Jing, Chapter 2 Last edited by Keith; 12-29-2007 at 10:29 AM.