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[JoshuaFH]

I started writing something, but then wham, sudden daydream about something else.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Removed due to being unfinished.

Oh man, I've been working on this for a few hours now, and, hell, this barely seems like alot of writing at all. I guess I'll finish up tomorrow.

[Capntastic]

There's a virtue in not showing things off so soon.  I also won't criticize or red-pen this right now.  The important thing is to just keep reading and writing.

[JoshuaFH]

Man, why did I panic and take my story down just seconds after posting it? I heard 'red pen' and my subconscious is all like "NO NOT RED PEN STOP NOOO!".

And now that I've slept it off and had time to get out of my little daydreamy groove and to put thought into it, I think my story is disgusting, it's like A Christmas Carol directed by Uwe Boll.

I need to write something else fast.

[Capntastic]

Just write something every day or so for a few months and then when you start to feel confident, start showing others your work for editing and then keep doing that cycle until all confidence is crushed from your body.   And then you can truly begin to learn.

[lordnincompoop]

Man, why did I panic and take my story down just seconds after posting it? I heard 'red pen' and my subconscious is all like "NO NOT RED PEN STOP NOOO!".

Here, I've made this scatological and hopefully humorously blunt extended metaphor to address your fear of guided improvement:

The less you expose yourself to critics, the longer you'll remain shitty.

And even if critics crap on you like a flock of pigeons on a bald man's head, you'll wash it off each time and, having passed through the harrowing shit-gauntlet of those ruthless pigs, you'll be better from it and cleaner too (though perhaps a little smellier). With their – and our – help, you will be able to navigate the labyrinthine passages to the legendary Best Way, scaling its rocky face with ease and agility.

Choosing to linger in the stagnant sewer-water congesting at the bottom of the Chasm of Ineptitude, trembling at the sight of the incontinent Tiger-Harpies (whose malodourous bowel movements happen to be smeared across the walls of the great Chasm) ringing its foul mouth, squawking, roaring and defecating this way and that to keep you and your would-be rescuers at bay, is a hundredfold worse than braving the gargantuan cliffs and the thousand hardships on the way out to the Meadows of Proficiency – for the longer you remain among the pooled feces and ancient droppings, the more of a chance it has to soak in to your clothes, your skin, even your very bone, until naught but the most agonising of scrubbings can scour it away. But even then, the shame of having chosen to stay in the horrid abyss will live with you until your passing, the wound always as raw, painful and sanguine red.

So heed the siren call of the enlightened ones sitting at the Meadow, and bathe yourself in the glorious shit-showers of the Critics and the Tiger-Harpies – for with them, and with each exposure, you will be able to gradually chart the course through the Best Way and into the grassy hills of the Meadows of Proficiency and Bliss.

And by then, too, you might find yourself voluntarily returning to bathe in their fecal discourse.

[freeformschooler]

LNCP wins the Best Metaphor Award. Either way, his advice is good. Show off your stuff more to get better faster.

[Capntastic]

While it's good advice, I still think that getting into a habit of writing is more important than setting out to improve right away.  Obviously, you'll improve on your own just by writing whatever, to a degree, but in my experience, getting into the mindset of writing every day is facilitated by focusing on writing more than polishing.  It's no big deal either way of course.  I just think that any artist's first steps aren't going to be worth showing off, or really worth criticizing too much.  Even then, if you do need feedback, it's best to wait a week and go through it yourself to spot the obvious mistakes.

Edit:  Joshua you still haven't told us about progress on your reading!!

[JoshuaFH]

Reading? READING?! REEEAAAADDDINNNG?!

I honestly don't have much reading under my belt, besides semi-recently I've discovered an unparalleled joy for the works of James Thurber.

Other than that, I have the few visual novels and mangas that I've been indulging in, but that seems massively childish compared to the serious business that is actual words-on-page reading.

[Capntastic]

I can't stress enough the importance a varied reading diet has in developing a good writing mind.   Maybe someone else can.

[Max White]

Read Some Terry Pratchet, then read Twilight. Compare and contrast. See how one is awesome and the other is a crime against humanity? Try to avoid the latter.

[lordnincompoop]

I can't stress enough the importance a varied reading diet has in developing a good writing mind.   Maybe someone else can.

It's beyond words.

[Capntastic]

I wouldn't go that far.  Being essential doesn't mean indescribable- much the opposite.  I was just giving someone else the chance to back me up on that issue.

[JoshuaFH]

I've never been huge into reading. Like, I used to really love Isaac Asimov's things, and some of the Sherlock Holmes stuff, but I'm not the bibliophile that nearly every other intellectual seems to be.

And it doesn't help that I have alot of personal problems piling up on eachother, and it frequently feels like every second I'm not directly addressing those things, I'm just wasting more of my life.

[Capntastic]

I've never been huge into reading. Like, I used to really love Isaac Asimov's things, and some of the Sherlock Holmes stuff, but I'm not the bibliophile that nearly every other intellectual seems to be.

And it doesn't help that I have alot of personal problems piling up on eachother, and it frequently feels like every second I'm not directly addressing those things, I'm just wasting more of my life.

Realize what you're saying is basically the same as "I want to be a musician but I don't really like listening to music" or "I want to be a film maker but I've never really liked movies".

As for your problems-- everyone has those, and no one here can really help you with them.  They fall outside the scope of the thread, honestly.  People here are prepared to give advice and suggestions and critiques with writing and all of that, but saying you totally wish you could follow the advice except for [issue] kind of cuts any real good will to help.  I wouldn't really address this if you hadn't brought it up again.

As an aside, though it may be a useful parable, there's been dozens of threads I've posted in out of hundreds of threads of this sort on the forum where someone wants help with learning to program/draw/write/etc, but when people give explanations on suggested courses of action, the original person asking for the help suddenly has no motivation to do the work, and suddenly the onus is on the people who were giving advice to somehow nudge the person into action.  It's frustrating!  I'm not saying you're doing this, but certainly you'll forgive me for feeling things are heading in that direction.

[Capntastic]

Now, to cleanse the air after that heavy post, just read some short stories or essays or articles or something.