I've recently come down with a case of ending-terror, or what is basically the fear of writing the finale to my work in progress. I don't know where it comes from, but I do know when it starts - always when I slow down long enough to actually think of what I am writing. This happened after NaNoWriMo when I had just a handful of chapters left to write for my rough draft, and then took a small break where my brain had a chance to tell me lies about how much pressure there is.
In reality, there is no pressure, other than the pressure that I'm placing upon myself. I've received both good and bad feedback on my first published novel, and now I need to do the same process again. There is a deadline. I'd like to be done by the end of January. But, this fear in my head needs to go. Do you struggle with this fear of completing your art?
For now, I'm just going to plow ahead and hype myself up until I reach the end. I know how it's going to end. I know how things play out. I just need to put them onto the page. Ready? Here we go!
Showing posts with label #Fear. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #Fear. Show all posts
Friday, December 27, 2013
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Fear Itself
In the spirit of Halloween, I thought it would be fun to post some of my fears - some justifiable, and some that are just plain stupid. Here goes!
I'm scared of:
The bigfoot that I know lives in my backyard.
Walking up the driveway in the dark.
Peering through dark windows in case I see a face looking back.
That I won't be able to finish a second book.
That nobody will read any of my stories.
That I will never get my own apartment in town.
That I will never own my own tiny house.
That something will pull my leg if it's not completely under the covers.
All my digital files will disappear someday.
I will never be able to find a book that keeps my attention to the end.
That my voice doesn't matter.
Getting cancer.
Disappointing those I love.
Swimming to the bottom of a lake and finding a monster.
Being useless.
Wasting my time watching television, even for an hour.
Chainsaws.
Large dogs, including Beethoven.
Flat tires in the middle of nowhere.
No cell-phone reception in an emergency.
Running out of ideas.
There's a pretty modest list. As you can see, I'm afraid of a lot of things. But, sometimes it's fun to be scared. That's why I read every Goosebumps book available in grade school!
I'm scared of:
The bigfoot that I know lives in my backyard.
Walking up the driveway in the dark.
Peering through dark windows in case I see a face looking back.
That I won't be able to finish a second book.
That nobody will read any of my stories.
That I will never get my own apartment in town.
That I will never own my own tiny house.
That something will pull my leg if it's not completely under the covers.
All my digital files will disappear someday.
I will never be able to find a book that keeps my attention to the end.
That my voice doesn't matter.
Getting cancer.
Disappointing those I love.
Swimming to the bottom of a lake and finding a monster.
Being useless.
Wasting my time watching television, even for an hour.
Chainsaws.
Large dogs, including Beethoven.
Flat tires in the middle of nowhere.
No cell-phone reception in an emergency.
Running out of ideas.
There's a pretty modest list. As you can see, I'm afraid of a lot of things. But, sometimes it's fun to be scared. That's why I read every Goosebumps book available in grade school!
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Fight The Fear!
This is more of a self-help post than the kind I normally write.
There is a lot of pressure on independent writers nowadays. Everywhere we turn there are hundreds and thousands of other writers publishing their work, daily, hourly, every minute and every second. It's fast paced. It's new and exciting. It's also terrifying!
How do you get noticed in a vast ocean of books?
Most bloggers and independent authors I read say to write as fast as you can. I agree with this, but I have to say that this advice does instill a certain fear in the back of my brain that likes to pop to the front every so often, making me freeze up like a deer in headlights.
Produce more? Faster? It was enough to just get a single manuscript to its second draft! Now I'm supposed to speed up and crank out three books a year? That seems impossible!
Wait a second. Take a deep breath.
Nothing happens overnight. Sure, some of these authors pulled five all-nighters in a row to publish three books in five months. Great for them. Personally, I know that I can only work at my own pace creatively and that when the well is dry, I need to replenish it. That takes a day or so of reading, watching a great television program, or playing a game and being outdoors for a walk.
In this internet age we must be focused on our next product. But I will urge everyone who is out there producing things in their own studies (like me) to please also think of quality. There is a huge amount of media out there, some of it fantastic, but a lot of it mediocre and rushed. Quality over quantity has and will perhaps always be my mantra, and I think it's very important in this digital age. Now, I'm not saying that you can't or shouldn't crank out as many books as you possibly can in a single year. If I can get three our before December 2014 I will be the happiest man on the planet!
But, I'm going to give each of those three potential books all the loving, tender care they deserve and demand before I throw them out into the world. Publishing and building up a catalogue is a slow process. Even the gods among us like Joe Konrath worked years to get to where he is. That was a ton of work! More than I've done yet in my career. Still, it's tempting to rush the books when we see someone's backlist out on Amazon, ready to be purchased. It's enormous! I wish I had that. But, I don't. Not yet. And that's okay.
Focus on the quality of whatever project you're currently working on. It will pay off in the long run with an eBook that will be read and re-read because it was a piece of art that deserves attention. Why else do I go back to read Lord of the Rings each year? It's beautiful! I want my own book to be beautiful as well. With patience and attention to craft, it will be. I just have to fight the fear that I'm not producing fast enough.
There is a lot of pressure on independent writers nowadays. Everywhere we turn there are hundreds and thousands of other writers publishing their work, daily, hourly, every minute and every second. It's fast paced. It's new and exciting. It's also terrifying!
How do you get noticed in a vast ocean of books?
Most bloggers and independent authors I read say to write as fast as you can. I agree with this, but I have to say that this advice does instill a certain fear in the back of my brain that likes to pop to the front every so often, making me freeze up like a deer in headlights.
Produce more? Faster? It was enough to just get a single manuscript to its second draft! Now I'm supposed to speed up and crank out three books a year? That seems impossible!
Wait a second. Take a deep breath.
Nothing happens overnight. Sure, some of these authors pulled five all-nighters in a row to publish three books in five months. Great for them. Personally, I know that I can only work at my own pace creatively and that when the well is dry, I need to replenish it. That takes a day or so of reading, watching a great television program, or playing a game and being outdoors for a walk.
In this internet age we must be focused on our next product. But I will urge everyone who is out there producing things in their own studies (like me) to please also think of quality. There is a huge amount of media out there, some of it fantastic, but a lot of it mediocre and rushed. Quality over quantity has and will perhaps always be my mantra, and I think it's very important in this digital age. Now, I'm not saying that you can't or shouldn't crank out as many books as you possibly can in a single year. If I can get three our before December 2014 I will be the happiest man on the planet!
But, I'm going to give each of those three potential books all the loving, tender care they deserve and demand before I throw them out into the world. Publishing and building up a catalogue is a slow process. Even the gods among us like Joe Konrath worked years to get to where he is. That was a ton of work! More than I've done yet in my career. Still, it's tempting to rush the books when we see someone's backlist out on Amazon, ready to be purchased. It's enormous! I wish I had that. But, I don't. Not yet. And that's okay.
Focus on the quality of whatever project you're currently working on. It will pay off in the long run with an eBook that will be read and re-read because it was a piece of art that deserves attention. Why else do I go back to read Lord of the Rings each year? It's beautiful! I want my own book to be beautiful as well. With patience and attention to craft, it will be. I just have to fight the fear that I'm not producing fast enough.
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