I actually do have a sort of appropriate metaphor... xD
When I started making costumes, I had half a year of basic sewing instructions under my belt. I knew how to use a machine and follow a pattern, and do a few other basic things. The costume I wanted to make, though, was a little strange, and I couldn't find a commercial pattern that matched it, so I decided to make my own. "I don't think you can do that..." my mother told me, but I shrugged and did it anyway, taking bits and pieces from different patterns I had lying around and chopping them up. I didn't know how to make a certain type of pleat, so I messed around with paper until I figured it out, and then I just did it. In the end, I came up with something that worked; maybe the sleeve was sewed on a little strangely, and the trim on the collar didn't look quite right, but it was the best damn job I could do, and I was happy with it.
It was only afterwards that my mother told me how hard doing things like that was supposed to be. I hadn't even considered the difficulty, and had just forged ahead-- it was something I wanted to do, and so I did it. I take the same approach to writing. If all through November I were saying "This is supposed to be really hard, not that many people can do it, I don't know if it'll turn out right, what if I forget to add in all the details I want," I'd never write a single word and end the month defeated and drained with nothing on the page. Don't let yourself get in your own way!
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2007-11-17 04:13 pm (UTC)When I started making costumes, I had half a year of basic sewing instructions under my belt. I knew how to use a machine and follow a pattern, and do a few other basic things. The costume I wanted to make, though, was a little strange, and I couldn't find a commercial pattern that matched it, so I decided to make my own. "I don't think you can do that..." my mother told me, but I shrugged and did it anyway, taking bits and pieces from different patterns I had lying around and chopping them up. I didn't know how to make a certain type of pleat, so I messed around with paper until I figured it out, and then I just did it. In the end, I came up with something that worked; maybe the sleeve was sewed on a little strangely, and the trim on the collar didn't look quite right, but it was the best damn job I could do, and I was happy with it.
It was only afterwards that my mother told me how hard doing things like that was supposed to be. I hadn't even considered the difficulty, and had just forged ahead-- it was something I wanted to do, and so I did it. I take the same approach to writing. If all through November I were saying "This is supposed to be really hard, not that many people can do it, I don't know if it'll turn out right, what if I forget to add in all the details I want," I'd never write a single word and end the month defeated and drained with nothing on the page. Don't let yourself get in your own way!