Remember: the main rule of zero-drafting is that you can't do it wrong. Therefore every experiment is valid.
Experimenting is much more fun when there's no such thing as failure.
However, just because you can't do it wrong doesn't mean you can't do it better.
You can't do it wrong: No one can stop you. You aren't going to get fired. Maybe the haters will set their sights on you, but that ain't no thing: haters gonna hate. Don't take it personally.
You can do it better: You start a zero draft because you want to say something. How do you know when you've said it? Well, how closely are you paying attention to how you feel? How you feel: the zero draft will show you if you let it. There's your teacher.
As I've worked with this process--in the initial zero-drafting, and then certainly in the editing and now the publishing--I've been feeling a lot of fear. It permeates my body.
I don't remember feeling so much fear. But I'm pretty sure it was there. Apparently the rules I'm working under help me feel fear in a way I didn't before.
It's easy to not feel fear when you don't change anything and don't take risks and live in a tiny little shell.
I remind myself that I started changing the rules when it became clear that my choice was either change or die.
Maybe feeling fear is a good thing?