Nope. Nope, and nope.
It's okay, I tell myself. I know it's coming. All the plotting, the tweaking, the cracking of the knuckles has prepared me for this moment.
As Spongebob says, I'm ready!
Today's the start of flurring for little ol' Sue. Time to set these fingers walking. Time to let the imagination run free. Time to peruse the outline, then set it aside, because as much as I'm relying on that bad boy to get me through to the end, sometimes I just have to write.
Let me highlight that last phrase.
Sometimes I just have to write.
I have to pull out the stops, stop worrying about using cliches, or stilted metaphors. Sometimes, in order to get the words down, I have to turn off the inner editor. You know, the one that looks like this:
There's a time and a place for editing, and I can tell you without a doubt, for me, it's NOT when I'm drafting. I stumbled on a kindle book called Tell, Don't Show! by James Loquist this summer and instantly fell in love. Imagine, being given permission to make mistakes in the first draft? Imagine, given the freedom to plop down some weak descriptions, knowing you're going to edit them eventually anyways so why worry about the details now?
Why worry, I ask you. Why?
So, today's the day for me. I'm going to plug in some good tunes, close my eyes to the world around me and let my imagination go.
What about you? What can you do to make it count? Care to share?
Happy writing!
Sue