#098 - How to stop overthinking what you have written so it moves forward?

I received a question that I wanted to answer in this video is how to stop overthinking and be content with what you have written so that it moves forward. I know in my head finished is better than perfect and I'm not particularly, particularly shooting for perfection, but I do want the messaging to be complete. My name is Shelley Hitz. I'm the owner and founder of ChristianBookAcademy.com and I think this is a great question because I think that many of you have gotten stuck in this whole cycle of wanting your content to, yes, either be perfect or like what this person was saying is complete and wanting it to be.

Good enough. Right? I think that's the core issue. And my husband and I did a whole series called the Breakthrough Series all about these mindset issues years ago. But I just wanted to talk about a couple quick things just related to specifically your content. Because if you're overthinking the content that you've written and it's not allowing you to move forward, there's some things that I think can help you. And so.

What I want to tell you first is that when you're writing a book, the first step is to get that messy, ugly first draft out of your head and onto paper. That messy first draft is not going to be complete, it's not going to be publishable, and really no one else should ever read that. So if that's the stage that you're at, then it's very normal to feel what you're feeling. You're just at the very beginning, the first draft. Then you move into what we call the final draft stage. So we have the kingdom writer's path. And that's what we help you progress on in Christian Book Academy. Starts with that first draft, first ugly, messy first draft, then you move into the final draft and the final draft is where then you go through your manuscript with a series of self editing processes. So we have a seven step self editing process we teach you inside Christian Book Academy in our final draft module. Many people have said this is the most, you know, thorough help, most helpful way that they've ever heard self editing described. But we have you kind of go through your manuscript and look at different things at different read throughs. And so you're going to take some time. And it does take time. That's why we have our two day virtual writing retreats every month in Christian Book Academy so that you get button share time so you get that self editing done so that you get that first draft out of your head, onto paper but that's where you're really going to start to see, like where is it not complete? Right? Where do I need to add some things? What references have I not, you know, added the specific reference to? Or do I want to add other stories? How can I make this flow better from chapter to chapter? So as you're self editing, there's, like I said, different steps and we have that all laid out for you in Christian Book Academy. And then so number one is that messy, ugly first draft. Number two is that self editing. And we have that seven step process for you in Christian Book Academy. And then number three is after you've done all the self editing and you really work through all the kinks that you can see is you hire a professional editor. And so maybe that's the step that you're at right now. I don't know, I don't know which step you're on. But if you're at that step where you've gotten that first draft out of your head, onto paper, you've done the self editing, you feel really good about that process and you're still feeling stuck, well then it's probably time to reach out to a professional editor, right? And then they will catch anything that you didn't catch. And so the thing with not moving forward is a lot of times the enemy keeps us stuck or just the simple creative resistance of just putting ourselves out there. You know, many times there's a mindset block holding us back. But if you go through the process and we teach you this step by step in Christian Book Academy, you get that first draft out of your head, onto paper, don't worry about it being complete. And if that's where you're at, finish that first draft, then go through the self editing steps and we give you a real thorough checklist of what to do in the self editing phase. And then hire a professional editor. Even an editor needs an editor because you just can't see your work the same way someone else can. And so if you've gone through all of those steps and, and you're still feeling unsure, I would say at that point it's time to move forward and hit that publish button. Now you can always get some beta readers. Like if you had it, you know, you've done your first draft, you've self edited it, you've even had an editor and you're still feeling unsure. Get some beta readers to read through it. And sometimes it's just all in our minds, it's all in our heads. And your beta readers might be like this is amazing. I love it. This changed my life. And then it gives you the courage to than to upload and press the publish button right? So maybe beta readers is another option for you but many times if you just go through the steps first draft, ugly, messy right. Self editing process, it's a tedious process but if you go through that process and how we explain it to you in Christian Book Academy you will find a lot of the issues you will make you know it'll make sure it flows and and then hire an editor if you want you can have some beta readers along the way as well. We teach all of that in Christian Book Academy as well but many times it's just ourselves it is and I will admit I mean I feel fear every time I put something else new out there and so keep going. We are cheering you on. You're doing it right.