The Prison of Thinking

I have this problem where I think way too much about something and never sit down and do it. I love to think about my writing projects, and in a lot of ways that is a good thing. It makes sitting down and writing that much more productive.

However, that’s the problem. I get into a trap where I don’t write.

I build a room with no doors and never get to the dirty business of writing it down. I think my mind processes all the information and becomes overwhelmed by all of it. How will I ever accomplish all of that? I give up and go be a lazy sack watching old episodes of How I Met Your Mother before passing out. I wake up the next morning hating myself.

It became a vicious cycle. I doubt I’m alone in this. I’m sure this is a common practice, especially amongst writers.

I’ve made it a practice of myself to do. Much like those terrible exercise commercials that tell you to do something, anything, to get yourself into shape, I have decided to make it a habit to at least write a page a night. Just a page. One simple little page. It doesn’t matter if its bad or not. Just write a page.

The beautiful thing about this strategy is that I write MORE than a page. I keep going because I am on a role and I end up writing three or four pages. And then that inspires me and makes me enjoy the story.  It makes me want to continue.

Today was one of those days. I wrote three pages. Three pages that weren’t written an hour ago are now written. That’s a good feeling.

Now I will go watch the Barnacle and pass out.