Three ways I got over writer perfectionism
It’s taken me years to get here…
Writing Sprints
Sit down with a blank paper and set a timer. Write straight for however long: 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, whatever works for you. Now just write. Even if you have to write “I have nothing to say” or “I’m so tired”, eventually there will be something that bubbles up and you can clear your head. Sometimes I have a topic in mind, sometimes I don’t. It gets me going and it’s a good warm up. Especially if I’ve been procrastinating, the draft gets started. Don’t stop moving your pen/keyboard fingers for however long that timer is set. It beats staring at the blank page.
Another fun way to take this on is in a writing group. We use a prompt for a ten minute warm up and some of my favourite poems have started in bits this way. Or you can find buddies for writing sprints online. Lots of groups do them on zoom.
Workshop in a safe space
This was the most valuable piece of my writing education. Workshop classes where I paid for the torture of reading my work out loud. For the purpose of receiving feedback. It was awful, for the first few months. I felt myself flush at any hint of criticism, especially when someone found a typo or stupid mistake I missed in drafting. Worse were my fine art class critique classes, where we’d hang up everyone’s work and talk about what was good and bad. Our brains focus on the bad but there was good too, and that was encouraging. Most of it was exposure therapy to feedback. It gets easier and can be incredibly helpful. At the end of the day the creator (you) gets to decide which feedback to keep and which to trash.
Any good group leader or writing instructor will give guidelines on how to frame feedback (compliment sandwiches!) and kindly respond to a writer’s words. My favourite thing to hear is “this made me feel XYZ” or “this confused me”, those gut reactions to a piece, without telling me exactly how you would fix it, tell me that there’s something to work with and I get to figure out what to do with it. And honestly, it’s super constructive. Writers are the kindest, most nurturing friends, who understand your love of writing and they just want you to be your best.
Get a deadline
Freelance writing does this better for me than academic deadlines. When I have to be accountable to an outside force and the work will be public, there’s a reason for me to get things done and a point where I have to stop fussing over it. One of my professors told me “a poem is never done,” even though it’s published. Yeah, there’s a level of permanence when it’s on the page but being forced to submit, even when I’m not completely happy with a piece, makes me do my best and let it go. And editors will give me feedback that helps my writing to be better. Highly recommend.
BONUS: Books that helped me are The War of Art and The Artist’s Way - both are widely referenced and creative bible books that all creatives can take something from. Most of it’s available for free online and in audio form too.
