Breaking free of perfectionism means practicing anti-perfectionism. Here goes nothing.
Tag Archives: Perfectionism
A little challenge for today
Here’s the thing: I think I have a kidney stone. I also think it’s making its way out of my body so I’m not in as much pain as I could be and the worst of it was definitely back on Tuesday/Wednesday. It’s Sunday now and I’ve lost oodles of writing time to this, evenContinue reading “A little challenge for today”
Looking back and I see a pattern
I see a path to success if I can just keep reminding myself that detours are okay as long as I always make my way back to the main path.
August changes
A few things have changed since my last writing post. I’ve decided: To ditch timers and timed writing for good. It feels weird to sit down and write without the timer. I still look for it in the corner of my screen as I type. I still look for the column on my spreadsheet andContinue reading “August changes”
Is it perfectionism stalling me out?
Yes, yes, it is. I’m still working through chapter 15 as of yesterday. It should have been simple to get through chapters 15 and 16 and on to new stuff, but that didn’t happen. I was fixing a few lines that didn’t feel right for one character now that I’ve eliminated some of the excessiveContinue reading “Is it perfectionism stalling me out?”
Read another book and learned something about writing
I didn’t write anything yesterday, after a really late start to the day, reading half a book, then going off to do stuff that has to be done when you’re running a household. But reading that book yesterday and today—which I really enjoyed, by the way—taught me something I know but seem unable to learn.Continue reading “Read another book and learned something about writing”
11:23 pm and too few words again today
I’ve managed only 2 of my 12 sessions today (20 minutes each). Part of the blame goes to my panic at realizing I had ruined the opening of my book by overworking it. I had to pull up backup copy 9 to get the old opening back. I’m currently at backup copy 20, and backupContinue reading “11:23 pm and too few words again today”
I am not going to finish those paperbacks today
Dang it. I’m not going to finish those paperbacks today. I got caught up with tweaking the look of the interior and spent too much time on the cover of one of them today (perfectionism is a trap), and here it is just about bedtime for me (oh, my tired eyes!) and I’ve submitted theContinue reading “I am not going to finish those paperbacks today”
Too much second guessing (challenge update)
It’s obvious to me that one big problem for me when it comes to speed is the speed at which I second guess my choices. Today’s attempt to cross that 6,000 word barrier has been hampered at every turn by my tendency to write something, then write something else, then delete something, then delete somethingContinue reading “Too much second guessing (challenge update)”
Uh oh! (challenge update)
Here is my first challenge update. I’m way behind already. After 1 hour and 49 minutes, I’m only up by 149 words. Getting through the last of the material I wrote a few weeks ago is taking too long. Perfectionism? Probably. I’m going to try to get through the rest of it faster. As ofContinue reading “Uh oh! (challenge update)”
Update to my previous post
Today, instead of writing, I went ahead and reformatted a couple of books that have new covers, because those paperbacks need to be updated to match. I wasn’t going to do this yet, but as soon as I said I wasn’t going to do it, the idea was in my head and I couldn’t resist.Continue reading “Update to my previous post”
Turns out I was not ready for writing today after all
I spent part of the day renaming files and changing my mind repeatedly about a couple of my file naming conventions. I couldn’t decide if I was happy with the lower case and hyphens for my image names or not. In the end, I went with not, and renamed all my image files with theContinue reading “Turns out I was not ready for writing today after all”
Recognizing perfectionism
I had a realization yesterday morning and it’s led me to some serious soul-searching. My 12-month 1,180,000 word challenge is quite possibly—probably, in fact—a manifestation of perfectionism. I’ve been upfront with the fact that I suffer from repeated bouts of perfectionism, and I don’t always realize when I’ve let it creep back into my life.Continue reading “Recognizing perfectionism”
Follow up for several ongoing experiments
I’ve stuck to the new food rules and avoided sweets entirely, with the exception of a teaspoon of honey each day (in some yogurt and orange spice tea). Weight is going down, if I can trust the scale after only two days. The schedule is working well. Sort of. I worked all day yesterday duringContinue reading “Follow up for several ongoing experiments”
The insidiousness of perfectionism
I wanted to reorganize this blog. Then I realized I’d let perfectionism catch me unawares.
There is no good version of perfectionism
I’ve decided: there is no good version of perfectionism. I used to think differently. I used to believe that some level of perfectionism was okay, or good even. I don’t think that way anymore. Perfectionism is an “ism” because it’s a problem. Perfectionism isn’t about doing your best. It’s about the fantasy of being perfect.Continue reading “There is no good version of perfectionism”