: Re: How do I go from 300 unfinished/half written blog posts, to published posts? Goal: To publish a blogpost 2 times/month (from once in 4 months) Currently: 300 blog posts in drafts/unfinished.
In order to conquer something, we need to identify the cause
I'm not a published writer myself so I'll defer to someone with actual expertise, but on the topic of finishing stuff in general I've found that discovering precisely what it is that's stopping you is key in combating it.
Is it a sort of growing apprehension as you near completion that something, somewhere will go wrong? (Seems to be this one for me)
Is it fear of opening a piece of work to public criticism?
Is it a nagging sensation that what you've created isn't good enough?
Is it 'hobby-butterflyism' where the next idea grabs you before you've managed to complete the first?
Is it actually laziness? (I doubt it, considering how much you've created thus far)
Those are just some examples, but some honest self-reflection can help you target any response. For instance, with mine I find just getting involved with the actual aspect of 'doing' the final steps rather than planning ahead means that I get to the point where I'm finished without really realising it.
Depending on what the causes are, different techniques will be more effective. If you can pinpoint what the issue is, I can posit some potential solutions :)
Oh, and a quick google for 'How can I finish things' will show you that you are most definitely not alone, to the point that difficulty finishing things may as well be the default state for humans in general.
Edit: You mention that for you it seems to be a sort of self-doubt.
Like you're not ready yet to put your work out there (or your work's not ready yet).
There's two possible causes with that. One, your work isn't actually ready and your nagging thoughts are right; or two, your work's definitely ready and you're just doubting yourself. In isolation, it's very difficult to work out which of those two it is (as I'm sure you've discovered!).
Now, you can brute-force your way through this and just force yourself to finish something and see how people react, but what really helps in this situation is an outside opinion.
@Cyn 's suggestion of a writing group would be ideal. Somewhere where you're not expected to produce finished work, and people are able to provide a trusted and supportive assessment of where your writing is at the moment. If you're not keen on joining a real-life group, any well-attended forum for creative writing where people are happy to provide critique on drafts would be great as well. If it's a forum tailored for your branch of writing then even better.
A real-life example might help
For me, my main creative outlet is painting and modelling. While little plastic aliens might not seem to map across particularly well to blog-writing, they both have distinct phases that are safe and unsafe. Most people are very happy with the modelling side, and so you get reams and reams of little grey plastic aliens that never see paint. It's paint that's the scary part.
Painting involves a whole different discipline that people are a lot less practised at. It's also the last stage before something is 'finished'. A lot of pressure on your little plastic alien skills ;)
However, people know this. There are myriad forums where people are very accepting of works in progress, and if you ask for it will happily provide constructive criticism. When I first started on these forums I was pretty adventurous in the modelling aspect, but as usual paint was trickier. My first forays were ok, but not exactly dazzling.
Three things really helped.
In general, it turned out that people were actually relatively interested in what I was doing. That came as a bit of a welcome surprise. Wasn't expecting that.
Every now and again you'd get someone who would say something like 'Awesome work, can't wait to see some paint!'. You'd be surprised at how effective even that very small expectation can be.
There are one or two people who are brave enough to provide genuine criticism. These people are invaluable. Not only will they help you progress, but you can also use them as a gauge for how ready your writing is (provided you're being brave too and asking for honest advice).
Oh, and the last thing to understand is that nothing is ever actually finished. If you're worried you won't do an idea justice because you're not experienced enough, it doesn't disappear when you publish your first article on it (even though it feels like it). In 6 months time if you feel like you've progressed significantly, you can rip the old article apart and stitch it back together new and improved. you can write a whole new article on the same topic, prefaced 'I know I've talked about this before, but hey, I think this is important so here's another one'.
Finishing something isn't the end of an idea, it's the start of the next process :) modelling->painting.
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