In a FB conversation recently, someone asked about self-doubt, and when does it go away? A lot of people, particularly new writers, talk about imposter-syndrome and want to know when they will feel like real writers, when will they quit hating what they are producing?
I commented, but I wanted to talk about it here as well - for my own sake, to look back on when I'm frustrated, as well as anyone else who might stumble across it. I've felt this way forever, probably why it's taken me this long to get serious about writing. And I'm not sure it goes away, ever. Strangely, what has helped me is hearing so many writers, many of them VERY successful talk about how first drafts suck, by their very nature. And that's fine. I try to think of the process of writing like throwing pottery (not that I know anything about it, but it works in my mind) First you get your ideas and tools together (basically story concept) - that's the sketch of the vase or pot or whatever you want to make, plus the wheel and clay and slip and whatever else potters use - can you tell I know zero about pottery yet? Then you throw a big mass of clay on the wheel and start spinning and shaping until it looks like one of those crappy coil ashtrays we all made in art class - This is your first draft! Then you (or I do anyway) let it sit for a while and rest (this is where the analogy devolves into my new quarantine-inspired bread baking obsession, you have to walk away and let the dough rest and rise) Then you come back and start smoothing the edges and rounding the corners and honing the shape = Second draft. And you keep doing this until it's the shape you like = 3rd through infinite drafts. Then you paint it or whatever, fire it and sell it. But you have to make that shitty coil ashtray first.
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AuthorSharing what I learn and what I do, as it happens, warts and all. Archives
May 2020
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