Face the Page

“Convince yourself that you are working in clay, not marble, on paper not eternal bronze: Let that first sentence be as stupid as it wishes." –Jacques Barzun

Here’s another NaNoWriMo mantra for you. If you find yourself caught up agonizing over a word, a piece of dialogue, a scene, remind yourself that anything you write during this free-for-all counts and it can be changed later. Chances are, when you come back to read it, the words won’t seem half so terrible as you first thought, plus you’ll probably have a much clearer view of what needs fixing. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. If Hemingway threw away 91 of every 92 pages, and Faulkner allowed himself to write ‘bad’ stuff, what better argument do you need to allow yourself to write the story as it unreels in your head and fix it later?

Just Do It.