: I like to write but I keep stopping myself I have this problem where I always just can't seem to be satisfied by my choice of words resulting it me never getting far in writing. Almost

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It's common to have a different persona in your writing than in person. One of the advantages of writing is that you can appear wittier, quicker-witted, more eloquent and knowledgeable than in life, all through the magic of editing.

I always advise people online to present their public persona, not their private one, and to make it a kinder, calmer, more modest and moderate self, because the online record is visible to all, and never goes away.

As they say in the theater, realism is just another style. Presenting yourself in print exactly as you are in life is arguably not even possible, let alone a moral necessity.

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Another approach for you might be to write in sprints - say, 10-15 minutes - and do not permit yourself to edit. Get up for a short break, do something other than writing, then return to the writing for a new session. When you do, go back over the words you wrote in the previous session, and do any editing you'd like to do. Then move forward for another 10-15 minutes (or whatever you can manage). Lather, rinse, repeat.

I've found this helps me produce more work, with better wording, and satisfies the "internal editor" telling me to fix things. Maybe that method will work for you too.

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I think you're talking about strategic writing.Seth Godin has advice for the mind set this needs.

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In Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird, she talks about "shitty first drafts." (Read about it here.) The point is that your first draft should be nothing more than a dump of creative ideas, disregarding spelling, grammar, consistency, and all other quality measures. Then clean it up to make sense when you revise.

[Someone who wasn't Hemingway] said, "Write drunk, edit sober," and it echoes Lamott's advice.

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