When you are writing, do you think “This is great!” or do you think, “I shouldn’t have put this off. It’s a mess. I’ll never get it right.” Too often, I find it easy to be with the large number of people who are critical of themselves when they write. Anne Lamott encourages us to take a more compassionate tone. She writes, “Say to yourself in the kindest possible way, Look, honey, all we’re going to do for now is to write a description of the river at sunrise . . .” Set small goals, stick with it, and trust the process.
Lamott, Anne. Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Pantheon Books, 1994, p. 29.