Perfectionism often stands in the way of getting things done. Very often in the past when I’ve been trying to write something, what’s stopped me in my tracks has been perfectionism. When the bar is set too high it’s really hard to get past even the first sentence. And here’s the thing… the first sentence is going to be shit. The first draft is going to be shit. It’s going to be shit in the beginning. And embracing that is the only way to get words down on paper.

At least it is that way for me.

So one way of letting go of perfectionism for me has been to call my synopsis the “shitty synopsis” and the draft the “shitty draft”. So, currently, on the short story I’m working on, I have Shitty draft 1, 2 and 3. And Shitty synopsis 1. And because of that, I’m making progress. So write a shitty draft.

And then write another.