Wednesday, March 19, 2008

On Writer's Block

"It’s not the fear of writing that blocks people, it’s fear of not writing well..." This comes from L.S. Russell: Trying to Stay On Top of Things.

I agree.

The tyranny of our unreasonable standards can get in the way of doing our best work. So can the outrageous idea that a new piece, a first draft, is supposed to immediately rise to the level of earlier finished work.

That's sort of like handing a baby a briefcase and sending her off to take the bar exam. There are a lot of steps between start and finish that can't be skipped.


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