Disagreeing with yourself

[Telcontar]

I'm having a bad writing day. Not as in I can't get words out - that part ain't hard.

It's the fact that I seem to think everything I write sucks today. Moreover, my own opinions on work I vividly remember as loving only yesterday has flip-flopped. Don't like it any more. Crap work.

I've been here enough to basically just ignore it. Keep writing. The devil in my head might be gone tomorrow, and I'll keep some of what I put out today. Or maybe not.

Any of you get this same sort of mood?

 

[Sigillimus]

I get this sort of mood with my writing too, don't worry. The only reason I get it however is usually because I think of something else that I would like to write about, and instead of simply continuing on with the story I was developing before and storing the idea away for another day, I scrap everything and start over with the new story. Then the vicious cycle repeats itself, and nothing is ever accomplished.

 

[Black Dragon]

Oh yeah, I've been there many times. When this happens I recognize it for what it is, and just keep plowing forward. I don't ever let myself go back and tamper with anything, otherwise I will get stuck there. Just keep moving forward, and plan to go back and revise after the manuscript is completed (and after you've taken a break).

Write today, revise tomorrow. First drafts are shit, but at least you can revise shit.

 

[Behelit]

I agree with the above.

I'll add that if plowing forward proves to be too difficult, take a breather for the day. Step away from it if you recognize you are having an off mood day.

 

[Ravana]

Yes, I get that from time to time. In spite of my meds. (Not a joke. I used to get it a whole lot more.) Set things aside as you need to, pick up something else; just never throw anything away.

I will say that it's better to get that from time to time—or even quite often—than to never get it, to think that what you've produced is superior beyond all possibility of improvement. Because while you may or may not be wrong in the former situation—thinking what you've done is garbage—I can guarantee you'd be wrong in the latter.

 

[Kelise]

I've been in this mood for nearly two years now. I still haven't really learned how to get over it - i think it's just lack of confidence and hope!

 

[Donny Bruso]

I rarely read over my work and think it's utterly awful. Maybe I just have too high an opinion of my own general state of wonderfulness. I have read through and changed things, obviously. Nothing is ever perfect. I have learned to copy and paste to a new document for rewrites, however, because sometimes the original ends up better than the replacement.

Going off topic however, I went back to my NaNo project from last year to do some editing/rewriting, and was surprised with how good some of my dialogue came out. I've been told that I write good dialogue to begin with, but some of the lines I came up with were just awesome. At least in my opinion.

 

[Talmay]

All the time.

The difference between now and before is that I actually keep my stuff, instead of just chucking it all away. Can't imagine how many times I wrote something I thought was rubbish and left it alone for a while, went back and thought it was pretty good. It just means that it times to move onto a different project for a while.

 

[Mythos]

I keep on getting that mood every time I try to rewrite my NaNo. I've tried three times, and every time I quit because I feel like it's really bad. Then I go back and read it, and I realize that it isn't that bad. I think it's just the idea of trying to write a novel that scares me away from the rewrite. During NaNoWriMo I would rush through without thinking about the words, but I want to think things through during the rewrite, and it just isn't going well.