Does self-editing make you crazy?

Here's an interesting take by Sean D'Souza on why we self-edit and what we need to do to get over it. (Hint: write more. Lots more.)

Write. Edit. Write. Edit. Edit. Edit. Edit. Write.

Does this sound familiar? If it doesn’t then you’re probably from Mars, because most of us drive ourselves crazy with self-editing when we write.

And it’s not only when writing.

We self-edit when we’re walking. When you walk on gravel, you walk differently than when you walk on grass.

We self-edit when we’re talking. We choose different words and sentence structure, create different tones, and make different sounds depending on who we’re speaking to.

So self-editing is a very natural part of human behavior. There’s one difference when we self-edit as writers, though.

Read the rest.