Question: My biggest problem is that I question and criticize every sentence I write, sometimes before I write it! And therefore have a hard time just getting the first draft written.

Every author has a different method for getting those words on the page. Some spend hours musing, walking, agonizing over those first words. Others spill it out on the page regardless how messy it is, and then spend month writing and re-writing.

I know how it feels to not get a scene right. I wrote one entire book (In Sheep’s Clothing) seven times! And for an upcoming book (Finding Stefanie), I wrote six different first chapters before I found the one I liked (ironically, my first draft!) I am a “spitter” as a writer – I like to sit down with my laptop, close my eyes and do a brain dump. But, I also go back and comb through the scene, checking each word, adding texture, strengthening verbs and nouns, tightening the writing.

What do you do when your internal editor just won’t shut off. When it insists that what you are writing won’t work?

Trick it. Seriously. Here’s what you do. You tell that internal editor. “Hey, this is just for fun. I’m not really going to turn this in, it’s just to get me warmed up. Chill out! Or, better yet, run off and get me a grande non-fat sugar-free vanilla latte and a chocolate chip cookie. We’ll attack this manuscript thing seriously when you get back.” Then, while that nasty editor is out – write like the wind! Write what makes your heart sing. Write what has been boiling inside you for days. Just let it tumble out. Because, (and here’s the big secret), YOU CAN CHANGE IT. It’s not in cement. But you can’t work with something that isn’t there!

Probably, what you put on the page is going to be a GREAT starting point for your scene. And if you’re not able to keep a lot of it, I promise there will be something worthwhile from it. And, when that editor returns, you tell him that he/she/it has to say at least ONE thing nice about the piece, or he/she/it can’t say anything at all.

Now, if this is just TOO crazy for you, try this…as you are writing with your nasty editor on your shoulder, and you get to a word, sentence, phrase you hate, put a little asterisk by the word. It’s your signal to yourself (and your editor) that YES, you HATE that line/word/paragraph but you PROMISE to fix it later. And then keep writing.

Don’t let your internal editor psyche you out. Tell him to Chill Out! You get to make mistakes, have do-overs. After all, that is what the “Save As” feature is for.

*********************
Sign up now for our Book Therapy blog feed and get:

5 Secrets to a Best-Selling Novel

Frustrated? Confused? …Dreaming of the day when an editor calls and says, “I MUST publish your book?” Don’t laugh – it could happen! It does happen – all the time – and you could be next! What’s holding you back? Flat characters? A Saggy plot? Lackluster writing? Let the Book Therapists help. We believe that deep inside every troubled story lies a deep-seated problem. But it’s not beyond hope… Your book simply needs therapy. Stop by MY BOOK THERAPY and…get published!