Have you ever been so prepared for a project that it made you paranoid?

i understand how you feel. i just finished my last year of school and i was always very prepared for my assessments. i was so prepared but i still fretted that id forgot something. did i include this? did i forget that? what if i cant print it out? what if i forget to take it to school? the most important thing is to remember that you are prepared. remind yourself that you know what you need to do and that you can do it. the next thing you need to do - to help get away from those thoughts (the whole concept of which is known as catastrophising) - is try to relax. you know your novel back to front so now you need to calm down otherwise you will panic when the moment comes. now, to distract yourself, write a distractions list. no, really, it works. put heaps of things on there that dont cost much money, somethings outside, things you enjoy, social things as well. you need to vary and enjoy it. put the list up someone obvious and then when you start catastrophising you can go to the list and pick something fun you want to do. i have one of these lists so some of the things i have on mine (but everyones should be personal) are: *take the dog for a walk *call a friend *go for a ride on my bike *mylot for an hour or so *invite a friend over to watch a dvd *write a poem or a list *organise a part of my room these are all things that i find enjoyable and can get engrossed in. hope this has helped. just remember you are so prepared that you will be fine so all you need to do is relaxed and enjoy the ride.

Good lUck with your novel contest. I don't tend to over prepare for things so I really don't know how that feels, but I think it could be very distracting at times. I wish you luck in your contest. Let us know how it goes.