I do understand what you mean, because, as a rather underconfident person, I tended to procrastinate when younger (I still do, a bit) and I've also been reluctant to actually submit my work. I can see how the original poster's advice might strike a reader for whom the standard writing advice works well.
But, as a relative beginner, the standard advice can sometimes seem like a bludgeon. Some of us do need encouragement to trust our own process, and that is how I took the post RJ Anderson linked to. I found it very encouraging.
It's also true that some great literary figures have worked exactly this way. Tolkien, for example, who's one of my literary heroes. He was a very slow and painstaking writer who tended to revise and polish as he went. Yes, he wrote very slowly (and yes, his writing certainly isn't to every taste.) But, if he'd been forced to use a process that was unnatural to him, I'm not sure his book would have been as good as it actually is.
I hope you don't mind my commenting. I'm not being argumentative, really, and I do see what you mean, but I loved the post RJ Anderson linked to. I really did.
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Sorry for jumping in -
Date: 2008-12-16 09:38 pm (UTC)But, as a relative beginner, the standard advice can sometimes seem like a bludgeon. Some of us do need encouragement to trust our own process, and that is how I took the post RJ Anderson linked to. I found it very encouraging.
It's also true that some great literary figures have worked exactly this way. Tolkien, for example, who's one of my literary heroes. He was a very slow and painstaking writer who tended to revise and polish as he went. Yes, he wrote very slowly (and yes, his writing certainly isn't to every taste.) But, if he'd been forced to use a process that was unnatural to him, I'm not sure his book would have been as good as it actually is.
I hope you don't mind my commenting. I'm not being argumentative, really, and I do see what you mean, but I loved the post RJ Anderson linked to. I really did.