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- How Marie Vibbert beat perfectionism to become a compulsive finisher
- Discount codes for our next live workshops (one is tonight!)
- Submissions open
- Care to drabble with us?
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Photo: Flickr Commons, not a photo of the author
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I had three-quarters of five novels in my closet, and twenty or so halves of short stories in my desk drawer. Let’s not mention the stuff in my sewing room… my life was full of unread books, unfinished mending, and knitting projects that were just a bag of yarn and a printed pattern.
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Then one day, 70 published short stories and uncounted garments later, a friend asked me, “Wow, how do you finish everything you start?”
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I began to correct her, and realized… somehow, over the years, I had gone from a helpless pile of unfinished projects to a compulsive finisher.
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What happened? More importantly, what can I glean from my own experience to help another writer have a faster journey to the promised land of finishing stuff?
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First, I had to understand what stops finishing. Over the years, various bits of advice and personal epiphanies taught me what was really happening in my brain when I felt I couldn’t go on, when the friction was just too much.
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To remember what those epiphanies were, I had to think back and be brutally honest with myself. It helped that I am a compulsive diarist. I flipped back through my past diaries, skimming for projects fallen off the back burner and projects finished.
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I found a lot of insecurity and self-loathing, but under all of that were four basic things that caused me to stop working on projects I genuinely wanted to finish:
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Perfectionism
Uncertainty
Distraction
Boredom
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For this blog post, let’s look at the first one.
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Perfectionism is the source of most writer’s block. My friend Maureen McHugh says, “Writer’s block is not the inability to write. It is the belief that everything you write is shit.”
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That staring at the blank page, that dread … no word you type will be as brilliant as the thought in your head, because thoughts are intangible, unobtainable. The reflected rose in a drop of dew that is better than all the roses around it in the garden, because you can’t touch it.
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Mary Turzillo, my writing mom, told me when I was quite young that she had a sign taped over her computer that read, “It’s only a rough draft.”
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You can revise. You will revise. No one has to see your “behind the scenes.” It can be hard to remember, when we only see other people’s polished work, that every lovely work of art stands on a mountain of garbage drafts.
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Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good enough! Creative work has no “right” way. As Bob Ross said, “There are no mistakes, only happy little accidents.”
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The way I combat perfectionism is by letting myself write shitty first drafts. I let myself make bad clothes, bad knit garments, draw bad drawings. I tell myself, “This is the test project, it’s just for me.”
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Here’s what one of my shitty first drafts looks like:
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Ki created a distraction. Thane escaped and followed her. Amoreena was there too. They flew away to the lava caves for a chase scene with lava.
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Here’s the second draft – still not the final:
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The smoke bomb detonated, causing her drone to wobble, but it was enough to distract the guard. Ki wrenched the door open and kicked it to keep it that way, using the momentum to drive herself fist-first into the guard.
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Thane stared at her in disbelief. “Come on,” Ki grabbed him.
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And here is the draft right before I deleted the scene because I found a better way to resolve the necessary plot steps:
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Amoreena walked, careful and sure, to a position where she could see Margot, see the Royal Talons, see the beguilingly unoffensive peace officers. Maybe, though, if she threw the grenade right, if it caught the Talon and not the flyer, if Margot had already unlocked the canopy…
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And then something exploded. Small, flying, a little disk that went “poof” like a bad effect in a child’s play and wobbled, helplessly teetering to its demise. It was more odd than shocking, but enough that everyone stopped to stare at it, including Amoreena.
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And a small woman was running toward the peace officer’s ground vehicle. Like an idiot.
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And Margot had suddenly leapt into action, sweeping the Royal Talon’s legs from under her.
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Amoreena lowered her hand with the tangle grenade.
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Ki’s plan wasn’t a plan so much as a series of hopes. She hoped the Talons didn’t want to hurt Thane. She hoped he’d get with the program when he saw her. She hoped the smoke bomb would be enough of a distraction. She hoped the car door wasn’t titanium.
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Ki wrenched the door open and kicked it to keep it that way, using the momentum to drive herself fist-first into Stocky, who happened to be on this side.
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Thane stared at her in disbelief. “Come on,” Ki grabbed him.
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Thane joined her in stumbling over Stocky and falling out of the car. They didn’t make it to their feet before Amoreena, of all people, was standing in front of them. “Just duck,” she said, in a tired, annoyed voice, and threw something into the car.
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Could I have just written the third draft first? Technically, yes. I had the ability to write, to press keys or move a pen. But starting with the shitty draft made it feel like I was walking on a trod path, instead of pushing my legs through deep snow.
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Even though that scene ended up not being in the final novel, writing the shitty version of it got me forward, got me moving to the next scene, and the next. It gave me a place to stand on.
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To put it simply, it’s impossible to revise a blank page.
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Go forth, and write that shitty draft.
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Marie's next workshop is April 22
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Our next live workshop is tonight! There's still time to join.
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Take $10 off with coupon code aod10 at checkout!
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Join award-winning Indo-Caribbean scientist and speculative fiction author, Premee Mohamed. Learn how to write dialogue that integrates seamlessly into your narrative, strengthens your themes, messages, character development, and plot.
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$39.00 – $49.00
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April 22 - Take $10 off with coupon code finish10 at checkout
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Hugo- and Nebula nominated author Marie Vibbert helps you build a roadmap that brings your writing projects to completion. Do you have three quarters of a novel? Just a start? Just an end? Is the messy middle holding you back? Let's take a deep dive into what is stopping you from finishing your novel.
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$39.00 – $49.00
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Submissions open courtesy of Scribophile
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Many thanks to Scribophile for curating this week's open submissions. Scribophile is a free welcoming community of writers where you're guaranteed to get solid critiques on your work. You can also get 20% off your first purchase using coupon code APEX20.
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😈 Stygian Lepus Magazine is open to submissions of “dark” fiction, nonfiction, and poetry in any genre. Send them up to 4,000 words of prose writing or poems of any length before April 25th. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
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🧌 Trollbreath Magazine is open to submissions of speculative short fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Send them stories of up to 7,500 words (4,000 to 5,000 words is ideal), essays of up to 2,500 words, or up to three poems of any length before April 30th. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
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🕯️ House of Long Shadows is open to submissions of Gothic stories between 2,000 and 10,000 words. They offer royalties on stories depending on subscribers (though royalties are not guaranteed). No submissions fee!
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☠️ Inky Bones Press is compiling a forthcoming anthology all about monsters. Send them exploratory short stories between 1,500 and 3,500 words before April 30th. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
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💝 Foglifter is open to submissions of LGBTQ+ fiction, creative nonfiction, drama, and poetry. Send them up to 7,500 words of prose writing, up to five poems, or up to 20 pages of drama or hybrid work before April 30th. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
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💻 Incensepunk is open to submissions of short stories and articles that explore the intersection of technology and faith. They’re interested in all sci-fi stories inspired by human religion (including minority religions, not just the major players). Send them stories between 4,000 and 6,000 words, or articles of up to 1,000 words. No submissions fee! 💰Paying market!💰
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Care to drabble with us?
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A drabble is a piece of writing that’s exactly 100 words long. It’s also a quick way keep your hand in the writing game, no matter how busy you are. Writing weekly drabbles is a great way to sharpen your brevity skills, as well. And oh yeah, they're fun!
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Each week Reach Your Apex is hosting a weekly themed drabble challenge. Everyone who participates has their submission posted on the web site and on our social media (Bluesky for the moment). That's it. No stress. No drama. No competition. All glory.
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Are you game? Click the button to start receiving the weekly theme by email!
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