Creative Writing - 3 Fatal Mistakes That Stop You Ever Finishing Your Creative Writing Projects

Do you find that you often start new writing projects, but never get very far with them?

Do you have a hard drive and notebooks full of fragments of writing, unexplored ideas and unfinished stories?

You’re not alone.

Many creative writers struggle to finish the writing projects they start. Here are 3 of the most common mistakes, and how to overcome them:

Mistake 1. Rigid approach. You begin a story about one thing and it quickly starts turning into something else. Rather than let the writing find its own way and naturally evolve, you keep trying to haul it back along the route you started. You end up either with a bland and stilted story that doesn’t really hang together, or you abandon the project altogether.

What to do instead: Each creative project you start has its own natural speed and direction of development it needs to find. Keep writing, be open to where the writing’s going, don’t worry about where you started, just focus on enjoying the journey.

Mistake 2. Unrealistic expectation. You expect everything you write to be the most amazing life changing piece of writing anyone has ever produced. It’s great to have ambition and to strive to write the best you can all the time. But as soon you realise a project isn’t going perfectly you give up.

What to do instead: Aim to give each project all you can, your best effort and the attention and focus it needs. Then let go of your expectation, just keep writing and see where it takes you.

Mistake 3. Magpie Syndrome. Magpies are known for liking shiny bright things and taking them back to their nest. Writers often aren’t much different! Whatever you stage you’re at in a writing project, you often have a great idea for a new project and redirect your attention to that, dumping the half-finished work on the way.

What to do instead: Everything about writing can be learned and practiced, including finishing projects. The best way to do this is pick a small project, like a poem or short descriptive piece, see it through to the end, then do another, and another. You get used to the feeling and process of going from start to finish and can then build up to larger works.

These are 3 of the most fatal mistakes writers make that stop them ever finishing writing projects.

Which one most resonates with you? What action can you take today to start to turn it around?

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Creativity Coach and keen creative writer Dan Goodwin helps people who are struggling to be as creative as they know they can be. See more at his website:
http://www.CoachCreative.com