Detach From Your Writing

Getting attached to your words is the worst thing you can do as a writer. That advice may seem counterintuitive. After all, aren't writers supposed to bond with their own creations? It would seem so because you put so much effort into getting your writing just right that it only makes sense you would feel deeply connected to it. However, the danger of getting too attached to your words is that it makes you reluctant to change them, even if you're getting feedback that you need to change them. You may be so fond of a particular passage or aspect of your writing that, even in the face of feedback to the contrary, you continue to insist that it works when it clearly doesn't. So you tenaciously hang on to what you have created to your own detriment. What you should strive for instead is to be a perfect conduit for your creativity to flow through. Create your words, make them as perfect as you can. But then when they're done, let them go. Don't get attached. By maintaining a healthy psychological distance from your own writing, you'll be able to accept, digest and respond to feedback from others who may be telling you that your writing doesn't work, that you need to change something, that you don't have it quite right. It's only in detaching from your writing with a clear vision and an open mind that you are able to create your best work.