FORCING yourself to do it anyway...
By Gabe Turner
@gabeturner (56)
Crossville, Tennessee
February 3, 2016 6:36pm CST
I almost wrote a quick post on here yesterday...
But perfectionism got the better of me.
It won't get me today.
Sometimes you've just got to force yourself to get started and see what happens.
Many times I end up writing more than I thought... or hitting on an idea that would've never come unless I started typing.
There's something about the act of publishing stuff, too, isn't there?
I write lots of stuff onto files on my computer that I intend to turn into blog posts or something... but they get lost in the hard drive usually.
[Currently, my solution to keep them on my radar is to just leave TONS of documents minimized at the bottom of my screen! Yeah... it doesn't work very well.]
But when you publish something and you know people will be reading your words... it's different.
I've found the more that I publish (as regularly as possible) the more comfortable and confident I become with writing in general.
I guess they call that experience.
For one, you've written (and published) a LOT more so you have a pretty good feel for when you're expressing yourself to the point where it's "good enough." You know that people didn't throw tomatoes at you or humiliate you in front of twitter (or wherever).
Hey, it still could happen... but not likely.
I'm really glad I started to make the choice about a year ago to jump online and start writing casually like this. It's really been helping me get over myself.
And I think it's been improving the writing that I do when I end up spending a bit more time to massage my words for a more refined end-result.
So, what about you? How does perfectionism creep into your life? How do you fight it? Whether it has to do with writing or whatever... the more freedom we have the better.
7 people like this
6 responses
@ThankyouLord (698)
• St. Petersburg, Florida
4 Feb 16
I have never been a perfectionist about much of anything. I try to do a good job at whatever I do, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, for whatever reason.
More recently, however, I have had a challenge that I find has helped me become better. I play a game online called "Words With Friends." I am pretty darn good, but by no means the best. I started playing an acquaintance recently, and he is much better than I am. So, I am rising to the task. I am observing his moves, seeing what he does that helps him get a high score, and I remember those tips when I am trying to find the right moves. It is helping me tremendously, and I am surprising myself at how much better I am when I take the time to sit and think about my options.
This goes for writing, as well. How many options do you have to make a sentence sound more delicious? More interesting? More mysterious? I love to write, and find that if I put my mind to it, I can be an exceptional writer. But I am lazy, and have not pursued it too much. Just enough to blow a few people away, then I got distracted. Watching and studying others in the writing field or whatever interest you have, is the best way to learn to improve yourself. The Classics are a great place to find exceptional writing.
So many of us have talent, and we don't do anything with it. It is a shame.
2 people like this
@ThankyouLord (698)
• St. Petersburg, Florida
4 Feb 16
@gabeturner I will have to check out Word Streak. Thanks for the info. Hope it doesn't require a fast computer. I used to play Boggle, and my friend gave up on me with that one, too. I'm too fast. Not bragging, honest.
@gabeturner (56)
• Crossville, Tennessee
4 Feb 16
@ThankyouLord I use it on my iphone - don't know if it's something that can be played on the computer. Some people I compete against in those games boggle the mind! You definitely need to find a worthy competitor :).
@gabeturner (56)
• Crossville, Tennessee
4 Feb 16
I went through a season where I was playing Words With Friends - that's a good one! I then moved on to Word Streak with friends. Then I realized I'd better stop playing those or I'd never get anything done :). Great games that exercise your brain!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (339930)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 Feb 16
I've found writing here relatively easy. I still try to write as well as I can but it's not like trying to come up with ideas for fiction. However my fiction writing is almost non-existent now which I think is a shame. I'm just lazy really and would rather dash off posts here than knuckle down and do some 'real' writing.
2 people like this
@irishidid (8687)
• United States
4 Feb 16
When I published my first novel I was sure everyone would hate it. Truth is, some do but for those who like it and say good things about it, it has been worth doing.
1 person likes this
@else34 (13515)
• New Delhi, India
6 Feb 16
@gabeturner,Generally I write in my mother tongue Hindi.My experience has been that every time I tried to be perfect,I ended up without writing a single word.
@gabeturner (56)
• Crossville, Tennessee
4 Feb 16
I used to be so self-conscious and perfectionistic about writing anything online in a public way. Those things are decreasing as I've stepped out to write more and more publicly.
The places where I post more polished stuff are on my blog and to my email lists. I wouldn't have been able to write the above post so quickly without putting in a good deal of time on those platforms as well as other social sites.
I still do take my time (within reason) depending on where I'm posting. I guess I'm just telling myself that I'm going to try to write and post quickly on this site :). We'll see how the experiment goes.
1 person likes this
@jaboUK (64354)
• United Kingdom
4 Feb 16
@gabeturner Good luck with that, but I hope you still put some thought into your posts.
@gabeturner (56)
• Crossville, Tennessee
4 Feb 16
@jaboUK Oh, I do... It's more about getting comfortable writing and publishing quickly - it's stuff I've been thinking about in my head already... just putting them into words on the screen. Like having a conversation with someone. And... if nobody comments on my posts... then that'll tell me something :).
1 person likes this
@Scindhia (1906)
• India
4 Feb 16
Sometimes when I go back on some of my works , I can't help but think it could have been better. But then, writing is an evolving process and it is a great experience on a universal platform like this.
