I might be on to something...

My major block is that I need my first draft to be perfect. And before you tell me that no first draft is anywhere near perfect, let me assure you that I cognitively know all about first drafts, writing first and editing later, and so on. This block is not cognitive in the least.

BUT. I find that when I contemplate writing under a pen name, some of the anxiety of putting words to paper goes away. I'm not sure I'll end up using a pen name, but even so, just in the writing stage, distancing myself from the work by way of a (fictional) proxy person seems to help.

How about that.

Yup. Thoughts craft reality, and all that jazz.

ancon said:

may help sometimes to delete lots of stuff from the mss. not scalpel stuff. get out the chainsaw. and have fun doing it. have a working file mss and every time you find yourself skimming, delete what you are skimming. GET RID OF IT. may end up out of 70,000 words with only one word, like 'plastics' but you have something then to build from.

Click to expand...

It's hard to edit anything when I've yet to put words to paper. But I do love aggressive editing, yes. Thanks!