False Starts

It happens all too often. You start writing a sentence, but you don't like the way it sounds. So you delete it, think of a new way to say what you're thinking, then write this new version and carry on. It's a pretty common event, and so small that it is often ignored, but I think it also it does make have an effect on you. I call this phenomenon a false start.

False starts are annoying because they are like tripping or stumbling; they don't physically hurt you, and you can easily get right back on track, but they shake your disrupt your momentum. When I get an idea for a sentence something I want to write, I have bits and pieces from the beginning, middle, and end sections. Although I start writing at the beginning, I know where I am want to go. When I have a false start, I have to stop, re-consider my ideas, re-present them, and try hope this new course will have the same destinations just as easily as the original one did.

In this post, I am marking every false start I have. Technically, I am marking every time I typed or started typing a word or phrase and decided to choose a different word/phrase or go in a different direction. None of this All of these examples are 100% real. In three paragraphs, I have already had to stop and start just for this reason alone 8 times. Imagine That doesn't even include stopping to write down other ideas, searching previous articles for related links, correcting typographical errors, or other life stuff that pulls me away. Imagine how much that impedes your writing progress.

F As obnoxious as false starts are, they do have their benefits. If you kept blindly followed your thoughts without considering them, you could waste even more time writing a whole bunch more material you would throw out because it was all based on an inferior bad wordings or bad ideas.

I you stumble, you can quickly right yourself. It is easy to not notice, but if you do start to feel it affecting you, shrug it off. False starts are small mistakes - no big deal, especially worry about important things like being interesting.