[Stylist] Overthinking when writing

[Barbara HAMMEL]

Here I thought I was the queen of overthinking. :) As far as writing stories goes today, what does it hurt to open a file and write, regardless of your view of the story? If it goes nnwhere, it can sit there till you decide to work on it again or finally delete it. Just start your story and tell that little voice to shut and while you get the idea or plot written. Some stories we write just for our own enjoyment and others we may do more with. 
Barbara Hammel

> On Nov 4, 2019, at 16:00, Jackie via Stylist <stylist at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Vegas,
> You have nailed a problem I have had. Perhaps the phrase, "analysis
> paralysis" is the closest.  I want to write you more on this, but it will
> have to  wait a bit.
> I will be interested in what other members think, or "over think!"
> 
> Jacqueline Williams
> 
> Clarity is just questioning having eaten its fill.
>     Jenny Xie
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Vejas
> Vasiliauskas via Stylist
> Sent: Monday, November 04, 2019 11:39 AM
> To: stylist at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Vejas Vasiliauskas <alpineimagination at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Stylist] Overthinking when writing
> 
> Hi, 
> I hope you have all had a great weekend.
> I feel that I often engage in two types of creative writing: prompts and
> assignments that need to be done for class, and also writing for fun. I want
> to write for fun to keep it up and not just limit myself to assignments. 
> I actually have found the school assignments to be easier to do, because
> they must be done, have a deadline and have some kind of structural
> requirement. 
> But when I write for myself, I find that I often overthink things. I've
> heard it's good to just write and see what comes out, but it doesn't always
> seem to be working because I tend to overthink while doing even that. For
> example, I might have a general plot idea, and start the first few
> sentences, then tell myself it's realistically not going to go anywhere,
> even though in some cases that probably isn't true. At other times, I might
> start a story with a name of a character (let's say Eliza) and as I'm
> writing I might think, "No, actually I think I want to use another name like
> Macy instead." That then makes me go back and I lose my train of thought. 
> The reason I really want to keep up with writing is because I just feel it's
> a more productive thing to do than go online when I'm done with
> homework/studying, and it's a skill I just don't want to lose because when I
> . have a firm idea, I love it. I still read books as well, but miss when I
> was younger and just wrote things without overthinking. 
> Has anyone experienced problems with overthinking when writing? I hope I'm
> making sense! 
> Vejas   
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