Three steps to start writing now – part three
Switch off your internal editor
Some variations of “I am/it is not good enough” are bound to happen every time we put something out in the world and I already wrote about it here.
This is though a tough concept to internalise, but this is fundamental if you want to publish your work.
So, you must understand two things:
1. your internal editor has no job to do during the creative process
2. even during the editing face, you must set a boundary and tell it to shut up
I am sure many of you will simply ick as it might be unthinkable to show something which is not perfect. But you know what makes good very good and even perfect? Practice. And you know how you learn that? By putting your work out in the world.
Oh, no this is not true, you will say. Look at how many authors are simply genial with their very first book.
Is this true?
Well, first of all, we do not really know how the book’s first draft was, do we? Or whether the version which has been published was the same the author sent to the agent or publishing house. There could have been lots of editing going on, rightly so, because perfection is such only in your mind.
But the point here is this: if you wait to have the perfect story before publishing anything, you might get stuck in a fearful limbo, from which you and your story will never come out.
If you read my blog regularly, you maybe remember that I like cooking. What is a perfect meal? I could say that the perfect meal has the perfect number of calories, the perfect balance between the different nutrients, the veggies correspond to the season, let’s not forget the colour and the texture, and the taste of course! Well, if I had to wait to have all that in place, I would probably seldom eat. But even if I do not have all the above in place, I am sure it is still possible to put together a nice and tasty meal.
You can also ask yourself, what is the perfect number of calories, or the perfect balance? Ask a teenager and you will give you an answer, ask an older person and you will get the opposite. Perfection is not and will never be a common measure. What we considered beauty now was frown upon before and viceversa.
Learn to accept what is
I can guarantee you this: there will always be people who won’t like your writing, always. You might receive cheap comments or negative reviews. But there will also be people who will love what you wrote and who will like to hear more from you. They are there, I promise you.
Russel Brunson writes in his book “Expert secrets” that to be successful all you need is a tribe of 10.000.
We are over 7.8 billion in the word. And you are telling me that you cannot find 10.000 people? Go out and look for them, they are waiting for you!
If you missed the first two parts: