We've all had to deal with tough critics, and sometimes your toughest critic lives in your head.
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drafting
GYWO: Staying Strong While Writing Long
If you have trouble staying hooked on your longer projects, take a step back and think about what you find interesting about writing.
#105: How Much Backstory Is Too Much
Today is the fifth Tuesday of the month, which means that my answer to this heartfelt letter is available exclusively to my Patreon patrons.
#93: Writing Scenes of Boredom Without Being Boring
You don't generate empathy with a bored character by boring the reader; you do it by humanizing the character and the experience of boredom.
#82: Getting Bored of Your Own Writing Voice
Voice is a skill to be developed, like any other writing skill. Give yourself permission to stretch it and challenge it and expand it and enhance it.
NaNoWriMo: Why “Bad” First Drafts Are Great
Looking like a finished work isn't what a first draft is for. It's a tool to help you tell the story.
#66: Getting Past the Confidence Sinkhole
With regard to writing, it sounds like you have a process that isn't working for you. That's not something wrong with you or with your process; it's a mismatch, like someone putting on a shoe that's much too large for them.
#60: Starting Small
You have to pace yourself, like an athlete with an injury doing slow small exercises before returning to marathon running.
#52: “What’s a Finished Draft?”
Drafting is engineering and construction. Revision is art and design.
#29: When Creation Feels like a Chore
If you still want to write even after you let go of any feelings of being obligated to write, take some time to think about why. Are there ways to access those motivations and keep them in the front of your mind so you can gain some satisfaction and joy from them?
