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.