Over the last two years, I have begun writing a number of novel-length stories that I have never finished. The story I am currently working on has been in development for well over a year, yet I have not written any of the actual book itself. While I could easily blame my story’s lack of development on school, which took up a large part of that time, a small bit of thinking has led me to conclude that there are two other issues that have slowed my progress.

The first of such issues is my insistence on creating my setting before my story. As it stands, I have numerous pages of notes, diagrams, and sketches regarding my story’s setting, but I have not written any of the contents of the novel itself. Every detail of my setting seems to be the most important thing in the world, and every time I try to begin writing the contents of the book, I think of how I have not fully developed my setting yet.

At the same time, I encounter my second issue: my own self doubt. When I first imagined this story, I envisioned a large story spanning all of my main character’s years in school. Over time, I began to wonder how I would ever finish such a large project, and I considered scaling back my vision. At the moment, the book’s focus will only be on my protagonist’s final year of schooling, which is a far cry from my initial vision.

While my new vision is more practical and easier to achieve, I cannot help but continue to doubt whether or not this story will ever be written. As it stands, I have the plans and tools to make something, but every time I want to start, I find that the plan isn’t good enough and continue making it more and more elaborate.

Even now, writing this article, I doubt my ability to properly express my ideas and finish it. I want to simply trash this whole piece and write another, but it is important to realize that these doubts and wants are little more than thoughts. They have no more control over me and my stories than I give them, and they do not have to have any control over you or your actions. So, stop caring about your thoughts. Don’t listen to them or dwell on them. Just take a moment to find yourself and move on, and, eventually, you’ll get your story (or other thing your need to do) done.