WRITING WITHOUT ANXIETY!?!

I don't think so

What you can do is put it in its place and use it to make you a better writer. Don't let it cripple you. Let it drive you to improve every damn day.

The only time I feel anxiety about my writing is during the editing/submission stage. If I used up valuable energy worrying about my draft output every time I put fingers to keyboard, I'd be exhausted all the time.

Alcohol works.

I have regular writing anxiety, "why am I not writing enough?" "is this novel even a good enough premise to finish?" "why don't I know what happens next?" "This scene is so hard to write, maybe I'm not supposed to be writing it." "Will I ever like it enough to actually submit it?"

yea, I just went through the, "I'm going to trunk this half finished first draft" thing, and am now back to writing it again.

Trish, pathetic worrywart.

I think the key is to separate "anxiety about writing" and "writing with anxiety." I, like everyone, have anxiety about my writing yet at the same time have tried to train myself not to write with a stressed demeanor. It makes you push things out that may not have been the desired idea in the first place. . . I don't mind writing for the sake of it. I have said this in this forum before but I liken it to flying a small airplane. . . sit back and let the plane fly itself and control where it is going and the whatnot. The key is to relax and slowly turn the stick to the right. . . calmly, to avoid that mountain that is suddenly in your path.

CoriSCapnSkip said:

My kingdom for this!!! Is it EVER possible for someone who wants to write professionally to just be happy with what they did THAT DAY, without worrying about its relation or proportion to the whole, or how the whole thing will strike readers individually or collectively, or ensure the author's place in the future? Is it possible to just be happy creating without this terrible pressure that if it isn't perfect a) awful things will happen to you and b) your place will be lost to all posterity? I have found these things not very conducive to concentrating well on writing. Is there a way to get rid of them?

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I think it's not only possible, I think it's essential. When a writer worries about any of these things except worrying about its relation or proportion to the whole, I think the writer is in deep trouble.

The surest way to write something no one wants to read is to worry about writing something that your readers will want to read. And you and I both know nothing you write, nothing I write, and nothing anyone else writes is going to be perfect.

When you worry about anything other than just writing something you like, you make the job immensely harder. As for posterity, giving this a single thought is nuts. You can't even influence it, let alone control it.

I freelance professionally, and I don't usually worry about it at all... I just shoot it outa my brain and move on to the next assignment.

I've heard quotes from a lot of big-time authors who always say they are never satisfied with their work, but they have to just stop revising at some point and say, "That will have to do."

I never get nervous applying for freelance jobs or sending queries. That just never has bugged me because I'm one of those annoying, overly confident people who thinks, no 'knows' that beyond a doubt, I'm the best person for the job. When I don't get a job I usually think, "The money would have been nice but it's really their loss."

But once I get a job my feelings change. No matter how many jobs I've gotten signing the contracts always gives me pause. I always think, "I can't handle it now that I've gotten it" or, "Why would they pick me -- where's the catch." It's just so hilariously ironic. Or just plain sad I suppose. I don't get it, but it happens. I think it has something to do with me being so happy that I'm able to work from home. I don't want to screw it up. It probably happens to other people too -- or so I like to tell myself. After I sign the contract, and get to work on a project, I start to chill and everything is back to normal.

Maybe I'm just a crazy person?

Anyway, Cori...you're not alone.

~ Jennifer