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I’ve been listening to my CDs of this year’s RWA conference. Rather than picking and choosing and forgetting what I’ve listened to, I just decided to start with CD 1, track 1 and go from there. Well, I’m currently listening to “Tricks of the Trade: Insider Secrets To Getting Published” with Sophia Nash and Kathryn Caskie. They asked different successful authors what their top tips were.
The topic of the dreaded internal editor came up (see previous post!) and there were some great nuggets of wisdom.
“You can’t fix a blank page.” - Nora Roberts.
So true. So true. But the blank page can stare me down and make me run from my computer.
“Give yourself permission to be a bad writer. You’ll feel the click, the joy, when you imagination takes hold…” – Eloisa James.
Also true. But this is very hard for a perfectionist like me. It's a bit like giving myself permission to walk naked in public.
And from the workshop leaders:
“Turn off your internal editor and just write. It will come. Out pace your internal critic…”
Hold on a second! This, I like! As well as being a perfectionist I can also be just a teensy competitive. If I can’t shut her up, I’ll just out run her! I can see myself now, sprinting ahead, checking over my shoulder every now and then. Maybe blowing a raspberry or two…
Scene 2, here I come!
1 comment:
Your internal editor can not edit words that are not on the page.
If the blank page is bothering you, then go somewhere else, make notes and then type them up.
A looming deadline can really clarify ones mind.
I tend to write better under pressure. Then it is far easier for me to turn off my internal editor. If those happy uplands of the time before the deadline bites stretch before me, my internal editor tends to scream and I tend to find other things to do.
It is all very sad.
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