Making art of any kind generally involves granting yourself permission. This can take many forms. Allowing yourself to fail, to be criticized, to bare your soul.

According to Barbara Kingsolver (The Poisonwood Bible), novel writing is not that complicated. She provided some tips to Publishers Weekly:

To begin, give yourself permission to write a bad book. Writer’s block is another name for writer’s dread—the paralyzing fear that our work won’t measure up. It doesn’t matter how many books I’ve published, starting the next one always feels as daunting as the first. A day comes when I just have to make a deal with myself: write something anyway, even if it’s awful. Nobody has to know. Maybe it never leaves this room! Just go. Bang out a draft…

Of course, “bang out a draft” is harder than it sounds. But breaking it down like that can get some people over their anxiety. Put the words on page. They don’t have to be good. Just get something down. Bad pages can be improved.