Writing Blocks - Self Editing, etc.

With writing, I am in constant self editing mode…. I think society puts the thought into our heads when we are growing up that we need to fix things as we go; we must perfect our crafts. We lose our creativity in this way. We lose touch with our true feelings and direction. 

I often feel like I must be perfect even before I know you'll see my final draft, so I stop and correct as I go; losing my train of thought in the process. Getting lost along the way isn't necessarily a bad thing; after all, I've found some pretty cool places in my life when I was lost; but it definitely has its drawbacks. Getting lost in the piece, is definitely one of them. 

In the Fall 1975 issue of The Paris Review, the Pulitzer Prize winner and Nobel laureate John Steinbeck gave this piece of advice about writing: “Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on. It also interferes with flow and rhythm which can only come from a kind of unconscious association with the material.”

In order to combat this problem, I have purchased a pad of paper that I write in without thought. It is a big mess of craziness. The best way to describe my work in it is through Dylan's words. 

Dylan referred to his first draft of "Like a Rolling Stone" as vomit. In fact, that's pretty much what he says the process is all about. Vomiting out all your thoughts onto paper.

What I do with it afterwards is another story. Does it really matter to me if I ever edit those pages? Not really, because I realize they are just thoughts and not anything else. It really helps to have a place to go and just be imperfect. 

References

http://whywereason.com/tag/bob-dylan/

http://www.creativitypost.com/create/produce_first_sharpen_second_what_dylans_vomit_teaches_us_about_the_creativ