Ernest Hemingway once said “We are apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.” Every time I write I find myself constantly hitting the backspace key. I know it is a terrible habit. Each sentence that I have written has probably been rewritten about four times. It not only stresses me out but it worsens my constant writer’s block. I know there must be a way to disable the backspace key. However, in doing so, I might end up in a sanatorium. There was once a time when there was no backspace key. In the pre-backspace key era if we made a mistake when writing we would cross it out and continue to write on the same piece of paper. Sometimes we would crumpled it up out of frustration and throw it in the waste basket. When our frustration cooled off we might go retrieve it, flatten out the creases and finish what we started. Hopefully in time I will be able to do the same. Finish what I start without stopping in between. Give my writing a chance and stop second guessing each thing that is written. (BTW just wrote the last sentence three times and this one twice) Whenever I feel like throwing that failed paper into the waste basket I will try to remind myself that writing is just that, a craft. I will become better at it but I have to accept that there will always be errors. But through my many mistakes my writing will be less crumpled and more smooth.
Just try once to keep writing.. Constantly editing as you write stops you.. and constantly keeps you in the wrong part of your brain. Trust me… try it. You can always edit later. They are two completely different processes..
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Thanks for the advice. I always just say “oh I could have written that a bit differently let me go back”.
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