Perfectionism slows the writing process. I think the greatest lesson I learned about writing was from Julia Cameron in "The Artist's Way" and "The Right to Write." Her writing exercises encourage stream-of-consciousness writing every morning, long hand, for at least 20 minutes. These are called the "morning pages." When I started the morning pages, I started my book, in an accidental way. When I gave myself permission (actually, Julia gave me permission) to write without perfect grammar and sentence structure, I became unblocked as a writer. Those morning pages were uncensored and unedited. Thus, I started to write my book in that manner, without pausing to correct or analyze what I had written. That was how I accomplished the first draft. I'd do my morning pages every day. Later, I'd settle myself to a writing session for the book, and allowed stream-of-consciousness. Of course, many drafts later, I had to tend to the editing. But the concept of allowing myself to be less than perfect freed me enough to be an author! Now my task is to follow-up. I am so afraid I may not do as well with the second book (a memoir on breast cancer) that I am frozen before I've even begun. I have to heed the lesson I learned! I do morning pages every single day. Alas, many of these journals were destroyed during a sewer back-up in our basement last fall. I have to start from scratch. Is it like child birth? Does the second book come out easier than the first?