There’s This Thing Called the Delete Button

Me: early this morning, working on my novel. Staring at the words on the screen, wondering if I should add a sentence about the hero’s past. Thinking it might be too much.

And then it hit me. I have a freaking delete button.

It is really freaking easy to write the sentence I’m not sure about and delete it if it doesn’t work.

Why is it so difficult to remember this?

I’ll tell you why: it’s that sneaky little thing called fear rearing its ugly head. Again. Fear disguising itself as perfectionism, as in, I’ve got to make sure the sentence is perfect before I write it.

I think about this when I do the crossword in the morning. (In pencil, thank you very much.) Sometimes I hesitate to fill in an answer I’m not sure of. And then I do it anyway, and the whole section of puzzle opens up. Why do I hesitate? Because I’m afraid I’m not right.

That’s about the stupidest thing ever.

Put it all on the page, people. (And when I say people, I include myself in that. I need to remember this as much as anyone.) Because it is easy to delete or edit something that’s there. But you can’t edit something that’s not there.

What are you not putting on the page?

And, if you’re having a hard time with this, maybe you need some writing coaching.

Photo by surely.

Charlotte

Charlotte Rains Dixon mentors creative writers from passionate to published. Charlotte is a free-lance journalist, ghostwriter, and author. She is Director Emeritus and a current mentor at the Writer's Loft, a certificate-writing program at Middle Tennessee State University. She earned her MFA in creative writing from Spalding University and is the author of a dozen books, including The Complete Guide to Writing Successful Fundraising Letters, and Beautiful America’s Oregon Coast. Her fiction has appeared in The Trunk, Santa Fe Writer’s Project, Nameless Grace, and Somerset Studios and her articles have been published in Vogue Knitting, the Oregonian, and Pology, to name a few. Her novel, Emma Jean’s Bad Behavior, was published in 2013, and she is represented by Erin Niumata at Folio Literary. Learn about her annual writing workshops in Europe at letsgowrite.com, and visit her blog at www.charlotterainsdixon.com, where you can find all kinds of tips and techniques on writing and creativity.

0 thoughts on “There’s This Thing Called the Delete Button”

Don Williams
04/17/2017 5:08 pm
The problem with that little-old delete button truly is fear….. fear that if I don’t use it more often I’ll end up with a pile of garbage that’ll effect the rest of my writing, or if I do use it…… the fear that I just made a big mistake and I’ll regret later. Ahh. that damn little, big delete button, it can be both a blessing and a curse. The choice is ours to make.
1. Charlotte Rains Dixon
  04/17/2017 5:14 pm
  Such wise words, Don.