Hello there. How are you?
Perfection: That greeting wasn’t warm enough.
Nice to see you to. Sorry, but I have to start writing now. It’s been a while since I have.
Perfection: Writing? How can you possibly write when your office is a mess, you have other work to do, you don’t know what you’re going to eat for dinner, you don’t have the right music –
I think you can see where this is going. Like many writers (writers who have a talent for procrastination, especially) I often become the victim of my perfectionist voice. The voice which is never satisfied with the surroundings, the music, the state of the world, the state of hunger…
If you have the power and determination to actually sit down and write, then you have to deal with the perfectionist voice doubting your writing voice, your ability, your talent (if you can convince your voice that you have any), and your future prospects in the world of writing among other things.
Needless to say, I don’t get a lot of writing done when I listen to the voice for too long. My two biggest problems (excuses) are the thought I have other things to do or not having a great writing environment.
Things you can do to get past your perfectionist:
*Make a goal of writing in different places.
*Don’t think about writing too long before you do it. Decide on writing and then do it.
*Freewrite before you start in on writing in your work in progress.
Do you have any other tricks to getting past your perfectionist?
Critique Notes