In the past, I have mentioned the tactic, “Write Now, Edit Later,” which encourages you to throw off that perfectionist attitude and just give yourself something to work with. Now, I’m taking it a step further: write “awful.” Just straight-up “awful.”
I once made a video that demonstrates some of the many reactions I often have to my own writing as I work throughout the day. And it’s no exaggeration. Many times, I have full-on cringed at what I have written down whether I thought it was off-character, based on faulty information, or just plain bad. But, I did it—because I knew, as mentioned above, having something to work with and end up tweaking later is better than having a blank page.
So, go ahead. Write “awful.” This is me, giving you permission to write the absolutely worst possible first draft you can imagine.
Go for it!