I, the murder

Writing can be a complex job. There are heaps of things to keep in mind while you dip into your creative well. We all want to write a story that will inspire our readers, we want to hook them into the story so that they can't put the book down and are eager for more when they read the last page. We all want to inspire those feelings in our readers. I ask you what about the writer?
To me the writer should not "force" the words out or struggle with the story. If you are struggling with the story it's not right one for you. You should be able to write your story with ease, the words should flow from your mind like wine from the bottle.
I have been nit picking my story to death. Yes, it had a horrid death where every sentence was properly executed and the characters were as stiff as boards, they resembled the cardboard cut-outs in the movie store window in my mind's eye. My nit picking and poking sucked all the wonderfully brilliant quirks out of my characters. It's a sad piece of work at the moment. Yes the manuscript is so clean of errors that it squeaks, but in truth my pages lost their essence because I could not leave it alone.
Yes, I am going to correct this, but not now. Those pages make me sad, I accidentally killed a small part of me in my effort to make it perfect. I have learned that perfection is not always what you need to strive for in a story. I can see all of my wonderful characters lined up for their turn at a well used, gore crusted guillotine waiting for their moment under the blade. Gruesome, but true. How much more I can strip from them? Nothing. They are bare bones naked and they are empty shells of what they used to be.
In order to make myself more confident as a writer and as a person I have decided to get back to my roots so to speak. I think every writer should do this if you are struggling with a story. Think back to what stories thrilled you when you were growing up. What stories did you read and re-read until the cover of the book was worn and the spine creased so badly that it would no longer remain closed without the aide of rubber-band? That is the story that you should be writing. Whatever genre that had you hooked at the age of 12 or 13 and made you want to write in the first place is the type of novel you should write.
Start small if you feeling nervous about it. A short story is an awesome way to begin. If you feel comfortable with it then you can expand it later. I am doing this myself. I have a story burning in me that is screaming to be let out, and I just realized that it has been doing so for a long time. I am excited about it, and I want to jump into the middle of it right now, but common sense is telling me to slow down, take a breath and to savor the moment. Consider this new project therapy for the other characters that I have slain with my proper grammar and sentence structure.