Don't Let Self-Criticism Keep You From Writing

“For a long time now I have tried simply to write the best I can. Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can.”  -Ernest Hemingway

There is never been a better time to be an writer.  Write a blog, like this one, and thousands of people might see it. Create a book and you can have it published in weeks rather than months. And because of the ever changing landscape of the digital world, you books or creative work can include audio, video, slide shows, and much more. 

But you still have to write your book or other creative product, and this takes a commitment to developing the writing habit.  The vast majority of successful writers work almost every day on their projects, even if it is just for a short period of time. They typically write at the same time each day, working towards a goal of writing a specific number of words.

This is what I hope you will do to and to help you develop the writing habit, I will be posting at least three times week with some of the tips and tricks successful writers use to keep writing.

When you sit down to write today, try and be like Hemingway and simply write the best you can.  Before you write take a deep breath or two and clear your mind of all your negative thoughts. Focus yourself on your writing and don't be distracted by the things you could have done or should have done. Just write down what you want to say with as little self-criticism as possible. Rewriting and editing are different processes and I'll talk about them at a later time. Until your book is written, concentrate on your daily word count and just getting your thoughts out.

As you will hear time and again, lots of people want to write, but writer's actually do it.  So go ahead and write!