My true fear as a writer
It's not the fear of the blank page.
That one I've heard many times. It's supposedly paralyzed writers around the world and across time. Then there's its close relative: writer's block. Both try to communicate either the fear and/or difficulty of starting.
To me, both are extremely overhyped.
Instead, the real thing I fear and dredge is the mostly filled page. Granted, I don't have a sleek term coined to it yet, but it's somewhere between 40% and 100% progress. This is where I find the real writer's block. The real thing to fear.
The beginning is easy. Getting the first paragraphs in is fun. Blank pages are awesome.
But then, some paragraphs in, it's not a blank page anymore.
Now it's something that should be finished. Something that should soon become something good. Something concise, useful, and insightful for the reader. Maybe even entertaining.
*Boss music starts playing.*
In comes perfection, self-doubt, and all the other familiar faces of the Resistance, but some lesser-known as well. The whole gang.
One of the most common ones for me is the challenge of trying to keep the post from expanding endlessly. Way too often, I start writing what I thought was a short blog post, then realize half-way that it should probably be a lengthy article instead. (That's not what I signed up for!)
Then, most of the time, instead of trimming it down or making the critical editorial decisions, I leave the draft to be "continued later." Which, of course, rarely happens, because by the time you get back to it ⏤ if you even do ⏤ you've already completely out of touch with the original idea.
The end result? Ever growing list of half-finished posts in the cemetery called Drafts.
Fear of the blank page is for babies.
(Or actually good writers.)