“You’re not going to cleanly walk from idea to finished manuscript; there’s no such thing as a straight line. As long as you keep making progress, you’re doing okay. It’s not like it’s a straight line from here to there. There’s a beginning point, and an endpoint. You may have to go 7 different directions before you get there, but you will get there eventually if you just keep working on it….Tell yourself that, ‘it’s okay, you’re going to get there eventually’ and printing [a draft] out and throwing it across the room might feel really satisfying, but it’s not actually helping you. It’s not actually going to make you get to the finish line. Ranting and raving, yelling and screaming might feel good in the moment, but instead just sit down and keep working.”
Thalia Goldstein is an Assistant Professor of Applied Developmental Psychology.