Overcoming Perfection Paralysis by Karma Pratt

The writing life. Le sigh. It seems so romantic when viewed from a distance. Notions of idyllic settings from which to draw inspiration, dedicated time without interruptions, the peace of God's presence, and the unending flow of all things creative and writerly. Personally, I imagine an ocean view, a desk with zero clutter and time... glorious time.

When it comes to writing, there are many practical elements to take into consideration and the idyllic seems non-existent except, perhaps, within the realm of day dreams. I find that perceptions versus reality can impact my writing in a negative fashion if left unchecked. So, with that in mind, here are a few thoughts on the ways that faith transcends fear and has the potential to create the ideal atmosphere for writing.

Perfection Paralysis

Have you ever suffered from perfection paralysis? That sinking feeling that, if you don't get everything just right then there will be no opportunity to write? If you're like me, this level of perception vs. reality can lead down a path of procrastination at best, and full on paralysis at worst. 

In the past when my to-do list began to overwhelm me, my go-to coping mechanism was to just shut down. I couldn't get past the idea that my to-do list was my purpose. If I wasn't ticking the boxes in a timely fashion, I wasn't achieving my purpose or reaching my goals. If I couldn't "get it right" then I wouldn't do it at all for fear of getting it wrong. 

Oh, boy. Talk about a path of destruction. This type of cyclical thinking can only end in a tornado of tears. Thankfully, God continues to show me a better way daily. 

Passion, Purpose, Peace

There's a method to ending the madness of perfection paralysis. 

I recently started listening to a podcast called Encounter. It's a Christian guided meditation that focuses on daily connection to God through His Word. A recent podcast I listened to is called Discover Your Peaceful Purpose. 

"Ah, how lovely," I thought. "Finally I will learn the secret to mastering my to-do list." 🙂 

Turns out, my peaceful purpose as a writer has much less to do with to-do's and far more to do with to-be's. As in be thankful, be conscious of God's grace in my life, and be ready and willing to follow His call. 

Quite simply, if I turn my focus back to God, the desire to "get it right" falls by the wayside, replaced with the desire to take the next right step to honour God. The to-do list loses its power when I turn to face the One who promises true peace. The pressure releases and I am free to write because I am passionate about following God's call on my life, not because I have finally attained perfection. 

Faith-Filled Writing Life

My faith continues to inform my writing and God keeps helping me take steps to the next level. 

I am stepping out in faith this fall by attending a writer's retreat in Hydra, Greece. 

This God-sized dream is being made possible because I heeded the call in my heart and asked God to help me iron out the details. I am putting in the work and He is showing me the way. 

I do not know what to expect when I get to Greece, but I know that God will meet me there, and I pray expectantly that He will continue to reveal Himself to me in new ways. 

Come to think of it, this trip may just give me a taste of that idyllic, ocean view. At least for a short time I will retreat from the everyday and enter into a focused period of writing and meeting with God. 

I am thankful for the opportunities to let go of my own notions of what's right to write, and I look forward to seeing how God continues to move in this season. May you also be blessed with freedom from perfection paralysis in your writing and your faith journey. 

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Karma writes from the golden house in Northeastern BC. You can connect with her online at redraincoatcreations.com

Do You Have Commitment Issues? by Nina Faye Morey

Do you struggle with unfinished writing projects? A survey by a popular writing blog revealed that 72% of writers answered “yes” to this question http://thewritepractice.com/finish-projects/. I can certainly count myself among them. Several unfinished Works in Progress (WIP) patiently wait in my computer files for me to return to them and revive our once loyal and loving relationship.

I start out with the best of intentions when our relationship is fresh and uncomplicated. I make a solemn promise to stick with my current WIP through thick and thin. In spite of my strong commitment, it doesn’t take long before things go wrong. The WIP begins to display its faults and no longer looks as attractive to me as it did when we were first courting. Once our relationship starts to fall apart, I begin to have doubts about whether this WIP is the right one for me.

Before I know it, our relationship has slid further downhill as my WIP grows stubborn and irritating. I find myself becoming more negative and critical towards it with each passing day. Soon I’m easily tempted to stray whenever other appealing ideas whisper seductively in my ear. It becomes increasingly difficult for me to resist the urge to throw myself into these promising new relationships. After all, if I tie myself down to this WIP, I’ll be passing up the chance to take advantage of all these other wonderful opportunities.

However, by now I’ve started to feel rather guilty about breaking up with my current WIP. Perhaps I should shoulder some of the blame. So what do I need to do to avoid this temptation to stray and stay faithful to my current WIP? Well, perhaps I need an attitude adjustment. Maybe it’s my behaviour that needs to change if we are to be successful in sustaining our relationship. So I decided to do some research to discover what was at the root of my commitment problem and develop some strategies to deal with it.

My research helped me recognize that my tendency to flirt with seductive new ideas was the result rather than the cause of my commitment phobia. Two particularly persistent troublemakers were those evil twins, procrastination and perfectionism. Together they conspired to keep me from remaining faithful to my current WIP. Their bullying behaviour was disruptive and dispiriting. It distracted me from my WIP and deterred me from achieving my goals. Fortunately, two of my oldest and dearest friends, patience and persistence, showed up to rescue me from their clutches and set me back on the “write” path.

In addition, I discovered it would take a lot of dedication, determination, and discipline on my part to maintain and nurture my relationship with my current WIP. However, there’s no need for me to struggle with all of these commitment issues on my own. Fortunately, I know that I can pray to God and ask Him for help and direction. If I listen for His voice and trust in Him, He will guide me along the “write” path so I can fulfill my commitment to the WIP He originally chose for me.

Whether you turn to the right or to the left,

your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying,

“This is the way; walk in it.”

~Isaiah 30:21(NIV)

So now when those tempting new ideas come calling, I politely take note of them. However, I keep my promise to stay faithful and ensure that my heart and calendar remain open to fulfill my commitment to my current WIP.

Why Do I Not Write? - Sulo Moorthy

        I admire those who say, they can not not write with a double ‘not’s side by side. I dream of saying likewise, but usually end up short of one 'not'. Yes, I do write, and have enjoyed seeing my byline in newspapers, magazines and anthologies. Yet, I do not find myself saying "I can not not write."  Why so? I asked myself that question many a times and had come to a conclusion that I may be suffering from a chronic ailment called Perfectionism.

              I grew up thinking anything done perfectly is a good thing. I never thought when this perfect word is chained to 'ionism' it could turn into an ugly word. The curse of perfectionism is too much for anyone to bear, especially for writers. It robs the joy of writing, slows down the creative flow and even deadens the nerve that stimulates productivity. Perfectionism commands us to write only perfect sentences, perfect paragraphs and perfect stories. Under its scrutiny, anything less gets rejected even before it finds its way onto the paper.

         No sooner I type out the first sentence, my finger tip will tap hard on the backspace button to correct a word. Before I could finish my first paragraph, my right hand would have extended a couple of times to pull out the heavy Webster's Desk Dictionary and its buddy Thesaurus and a number of my notebooks from the bookshelf to scoop up the specific word or a quote to fit between the words. By the time I finish my first draft, the sun would have risen and gone down at least three times in a row. And the number of times, this draft undergoes revision and makeovers could count to eight to ten in my earlier years of writing.

       Yes, the process of writing does become tedious and frustrating for the perfectionist. But it could have a positive side to it too.  Most of my manuscripts that got accepted hardly underwent any major slicing in the hand of the editor. Except for a few minor changes, I usually had the joy of seeing my published work resemble the same as the one I submitted. To me, a perfectionist, that’s a big thumbs up!

 But, is it worth the trouble?  Maybe not. For there's no guarantee that whatever looks perfect in the perfectionist eyes gets approved by the editor or the readers. Further, perspiration with no pleasure leads to pain and procrastination. Writing a book then become a never ending process and a nightmare.

          Little is said or written on perfectionism for writers. Probably only a few struggle with the problem that it go unattended, I assume.  However, it does help me when I write by hand first, and then transcribe it onto the screen. Since there's no delete button to pound on a sheet of paper, or the ability to alter a sentences or relocate a phrase with the flick of a finger, the flow of writing goes unhindered for a long time on the paper unless the phone rings or the pen run out of ink. Sometimes, it  helps to chew on an idea for a couple of days and write out the first few lines or a paragraph in the head first, and then  sit down and bleed it out onto the screen.. 

       Surely, it takes dream, determination, despair, exhaustion, lots of sleepless nights and prayers for a book to get it published, put on display in the bookstores and to get it in the hands of  readers.  It's a long and tiresome journey for any author, unless he or she's well known or a celebrity. Such tiresome could easily turn into torturous for a perfectionist. That may be the reason why the book in my head sits still in my bottom drawer in the form of fifty typed out pages for the last one year.  If and when, it gets the courage to climb out of its dwelling and get stretched out in length and find its way to the publisher and to the bookstore, who knows I too might have attained the passion to say, "I can not not write." But for now, I can only say, " I do not write...as some other writers do."