Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Quantity, not Quality

You are free to set whatever standard you want for yourself, but in my mind the hardest part of writing is getting from blank page to first draft.  It's easy to improve something once you have something to improve.  Therefore, don't worry about writing 30 great sketches this month.  Don't even worry about writing 30 funny sketches.  Don't even feel like you should write 30 coherent sketches.  Just write 30 sketches.

This project is about getting you in the habit of writing, which means getting used to the idea that writing is an activity that you can do on a regular basis.  It doesn't matter if you have ideas or not.  If you perform improv you've probably realized that ideas can come to you easily, but only if you put yourself in a situation where you allow them to.

OK, stop procrastinating and write something.

3 comments:

Anne Stesney said...

I wrote 2 sketches today to make up for missing yesterday. I had to FORCE myself to post the second one because, "It wasn't done yet." Then I got all caught up in the fact that my first sketch was, "Sigh. Another office situational." But you know what? I posted them. QUANTITY! I believe it will breed greater things than agonizing over the perfect sketch.

besitos, SC said...

This is the best pep talk ever. Especially for beginners :)

besitos, SC said...

I would just like to add that because of this post I have been posting all of my first drafts w no rewrites and found that my progress has increased by 96%