Writer Panic

I'm working on a new novel. And by "working," I mean "flailing." Every single time  start a new project I have to face the same panic. It goes like this:

I've never had this much trouble before....I'll never have another idea again!...This will never work....This has been done already....I've lost it....I never had it....I can't! I just can't!...I should have been a dentist/ lawyer/ hedge fund manager/ barista/ some other steady employment that offers benefits.... And so on. I call it Writer Panic.

If you're an artist, this list is probably familiar. I'm sure you have your own version. Philip Roth famously said, "Writing isn't hard work; it's a nightmare." While this is (obviously) a little over-dramatic, I will admit that the beginning of the process (when I'm struggling with a story, trying to put together the pieces I have and make some sense of them) can have a nightmarish quality. When writing is going well, it often feels like a waking dream. I simply write down the images, the voices I hear, the emotions I see and feel. When it's going badly, it also feels dreamlike--I'm trapped in my mind, along with the monsters.

Of course, one way to end a bad dream is to simply wake up. Wake up and tell yourself, "It isn't real. It isn't real." The way to end Writer Panic is the same. You just have to tell yourself, "It isn't real." Those panic thoughts are just thoughts, ideas that I have about my work. They don't have to be reality. The secret to fighting writer panic is to wake yourself up, so that you can go back to the real dreaming.