There’s an interesting post over at the 37signals blog about the difference between an experienced carpenter and a novice carpenter. Here are two paragraphs that struck a chord with me:
The novice by comparison, spends a great deal of his time trying to figure out what to do. He does this essentially because he knows that an action he takes now may cause unretractable problems a little further down the line; and if he is not careful, he will find himself with a joint that requires the shortening of some crucial member – at a stage when it is too late to shorten that member. The fear of these kinds of mistakes forces him to spend hours trying to figure ahead: and it forces him to work as far as possible to exact drawings because they will guarantee that he avoids these kinds of mistakes.The difference between the novice and the master is simply that the novice has not learnt, yet, how to do things in such a way that he can afford to make small mistakes. The master knows that the sequence of his actions will always allow him to cover his mistakes a little further down the line. It is this simple but essential knowledge which gives the work of a master carpenter its wonderful, smooth, relaxed, and almost unconcerned simplicity.
I feel like the novice carpenter. When I’m writing, I’ve been trying to plan out the arc of the story in a lot of detail and feel paralyzed at times because I’m worried about making a mistake and writing myself into a corner. I’ve tried outlining and index cards and stuff like that to try to figure out the broad strokes of my story. But inevitably I get bogged down in details and trying to patch plot holes and impose logic too early. I’m not quite experienced enough to understand how to construct a story with confidence.
I feel like I am improving and getting a better understanding of my particular writing process. I think I’ll be able to get over the hump soon. At some point I feel like I just have to take the plunge and commit to an idea and be confident that I’ll be able to address issues as I go. It doesn’t have to be perfect right from the beginning. For some reason I can be comfortable with that with programming or my drawing. But I find it harder to apply that concept to my writing. And that’s why I’m still a novice.