The joys (or not) of setting a schedule

I started a new trick for getting writing done. I took my planner and put in times where I would work on a certain project and only that project. The basic idea, which I found from Chapter by Chapter, which I started reading last weekend, is that you imagine that you have to write some story or aliens will destroy you and everything that you know. And you can't write about it. You have to write it. A scene, or whatever. Just write.

Doing that, I got an extra page out of one story, and three out of a new story. And I still have one other writing project I haven't touched tonight.

If you don't count graduate work. I tell myself it's something different - and I finish it. Some weeks it is easier than others.

If you're like me, you have trouble getting a first draft down on the computer/notebook page. Something in your brain wants it to be exactly perfect, and that's impossible.

My thinking is that it's a form of fear - of the unknown. And maybe failure.

Of course, you never know until you try. I'd like to hear how you combat that inner critic who keeps you from just typing without thought.