Insecure Writer Support Group - When you think TOO much

For those of you who have no idea, the purpose of this group is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds. If you haven't yet, go check yourself in at Alex Cavanaugh's blog.

 In my IWSG post this February, I'd like to share a problem that plagues me in all aspects of my life, not just in my writing. I think too much. I took the Myers-Briggs test a few days ago, and even psychology says so.

"Their minds are constantly working to generate new theories.." or "is not naturally likely to tailor the truth so as to explain it in an understandable way to others." Yeah, sounds familiar. And that last one is particularly difficult to ignore when I'm writing. 

Inspiration vs. Implementation 

 

In my head, I have hundreds of different scenes for my books. When I sit down to write them, and my writing actually flows, I'm the happiest person you'd find. I get lost in my own ideas and there's nothing better than that. 

And sometimes, I hit a wall. I'm sure everyone here has been through something similar. I get unhealthily frustrated. I bark at passers-by. In short, I get kind of bitchy. (My sister is nodding along like I'm explaining the Origin of Universe to her, when all I'm doing is reading this post aloud, so I must be right about that.) 

Allow me to demonstrate with an example. I don't know of you've heard, but recently Sharon Bayliss organized a World-Building blogfest. And awesome idea, if you ask me. So I joined. And didn't post ONE day. Sharon, if you read this, forgive me. I have issues. I also have a couple of posts written, but I chickened out completely. But let me share a paragraph of post #1, in which we were supposed to explain Geography and Climate in our fantasy world: 

"My brain makes me wonder things like: "What would happen if the Earth wasn't round?", or "What would have happened if the Earth did not have the Moon? ", or "What would happen if the Earth was not tilted?" or "What would happen if the Earth did not have seasons?". The list goes on. It's like I never got over that annoying 4-6 year-old phase, when you want to know EVERYTHING and you have access to the Internet. Imagine trying to come up with whole alternate what-ifs for each of these questions and more. You might understand why I get stuck."

 So there. If you thought you have issues... I have beaten you with a baseball bat, my friend. 

The exercise I'm making myself do to try and solve this is to step away from every WIP I have and concentrate in solving all of these questions and more. I will most likely end up writing an Encyclopedia of Aragua. How cool would that be?

To resume... Brain: SHUT UP. I mean, not completely, just enough so I can actually write something.