Fear and Greed

I didn't write this. It was something my colleague's boss sent to him, written by someone else. But I remembered how comforting when I first saw this two years ago, because I experienced strongly the emotions of fear and greed as a beginning writer. I have a hardcopy of it and am thinking of archiving it here so I can throw it away and save some space. (And to also share it with you. :))

So here it goes:

"I feel any writing project has two phases: 1. fear and 2. greed.

To get started in writing, you are stepping into the unknown and you are not sure if what you write is going to be good or not. So, you are fearful, and you are paralyzed by the fear. Usually the best thing to do is "just do it". Don't be a perfectionist. Write whatever comes to your mind. "There is no good writing, only good rewriting". 

Once you get started, the momentum may carry you over to phases two. You feel good about your paper and can't wait to finish. Along the way, it might be a good idea to get your students, postdoc, and colleagues to help you such as writing certain parts of the MS, so that it is not too solitary an endeavor.

Having an incremental goal and reward mechanism also helps. For example, if I write one page today, I will do something I really want to do. Or when I finish this paper, I will go to Bermuda for a nice vacation."