On fear and writing

[cleolinda]

I got a good review on Fiction Press last night, and now I'm sort of scared. Like maybe I won't be able to get the last two chapters to live up to people's expectations. Or worse, my own expectations.

I wonder how many people never finish things not because they're really blocked--but because they suspect they'd finish and it wouldn't be nearly as great or successful as they'd hoped it would be. So they just won't finish, and then they can always dream about how great it could be. I mean, you finish your Great American Novel, and--you get it published, you get paid just enough to pay the rent, and five people buy the book. You don't finish it, and you can go around thinking that someday, when you do, it'll completely revolutionize popular culture and the printed word.

I have a feeling that's why I don't finish things.

Comments

[katiefoolery.livejournal.com]

I understand that. It's hard to go on, now that you know so many people have loved it. Perhaps you're worried, because you can't remember what you did to make it so good. The only thing you can do is lock yourself in a room and pretend nobody has read it... or not. I don't particularly feel qualified to give advice, but I shall anyway. Just keep writing for yourself. If you're happy with it on your behalf, then you've succeeded.

I used to think like that all the time. I'd come up with a great idea for a book (or so I believed) and I'd plan it out in my head and write notes and little snippets of scenes... and then I'd never actually start writing, because nothing I wrote could possibly live up to the story I had imagined.

Sometimes, I think writers are their own worst enemy.

[edda.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, I think writers are their own worst enemy.

What she said.

[derryderrydown.livejournal.com]

Hell, yes!

I'm not quite as bad with writing but with drawing? I reach a certain point, where it's filled with potential, and I'm terrified of touching it again.