Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Taming the Impatience Monster



I’m trying something new.
  
Usually I dive right into a new project and keep tapping away until the end. A finer example of a Pantser, you'll not find, my friends! In the Writing Superbowl, with the Pantsers vs. the Plotters, I am this guy for Team Pantser:


We're talking total commitment to the team. 

And in defense of my pantsery ways, maybe jumping right in is necessary to get going, but there comes a point when I want to push the story along faster than it’s ready to be pushed.

Because I’m impatient.

Impatience isn’t always a bad thing, except, of course, when it is. Except when the reason I want to write is so I can be done already because writing is sooooo haaaaard. I sympathize with myself, I really do, but impatience is the enemy of many things. Good, clear, fully-realized stories, for example.

An outline might have prevented this. *sigh*
I’m coming to see that impatience is a just another form of fear. Like, I want to put things down right away because I’m afraid that if I think about it too much first, I'll realize that something’s flawed. So I plow onward.Or I can't stand the idea of not meeting some daily writing goal. I want to see words on the page. Words on the page means I'm writing. I must keep writing even if I'm writing myself off the edge of a cliff! 

*administers slap to self*

No. No more of that hysterical, desperate, impatient writing.
I will change my ways.

Take that, Impatience Monster! I shall tame you yet, or failing that, I will put a tranquilizer dart* in your haunch so you can't get up off the floor for 8 to 12 hours.



*Gosh, I think this is my new favorite website. I only wish they had one specifically designed for stay-at-home moms.