I don’t know about you, but sometimes it feels like every single person is a better writer than I am. It doesn’t matter how many years I’ve been writing for, or that I have a book published, as soon as someone talks about their book concept, or shares an excerpt on Twitter, I feel like I must be the worst, most boring writer, and everyone else is just too polite to tell me. This feeling is only made worse by the fact that a lot of the times, I see these brilliant ideas or snippets of writing on days when I’m struggling to get any words out, let alone brilliant ones.
Of course, it’s not true. I might not be the all time best writer, but neither am I the worst. And the odds are very good that you’re not the worst writer either. And, no matter what social media suggests, those other writers you envy? They are almost certainly good writers. But it doesn’t automatically mean that they are perfect, or that their writing comes out as easily as it appears. What you see on social media isn’t a true reflection of anyone’s writing life, and there is no way to measure yourself against.
Those first draft snippets that look so brilliant? They’re not raw writing. They came out looking good enough that the writer felt they could share them, but they’ve been cherry picked, possibly from the middle of a whole section of mediocre writing. And they are unlikely to be in their pure first draft form. Most people will edit these snippets before they post them up, because no one wants to share sub par writing. This isn’t a true reflection of how good their first drafts are.
You’re definitely not the only one struggling either, no matter how it appears. While some people are very honest about their struggles while writing, most of us do tend to keep that information to ourselves, whether it’s because we don’t want to be constantly complaining, or because we don’t want to show just how often it happens. It’s so much easier to celebrate the good days and talk about how much we loved writing that day rather than admit to how hard we found that writing session.
It’s also true that you are the worst judge of your own writing. We’re too close to it, because we wrote it. Our minds are constantly looking for the flaws and weaknesses. we can’t just sit back and enjoy our own writing the same way we can with other people’s. We doubt our own abilities, because we don’t get to experience the magic of reading it for the first time as an objective observer. Of course our writing is going to look sub par when this is how we see it.
Social media is not honest about the lives of writers. It’s not that people are lying. It’s just that none of us really want to put the ugly side out there and make ourselves so vulnerable. It’s easier to hide the dark moments and reveal in the good times. What you see on social media is what people are comfortable with sharing. Think about it this way. Would you share your clunky writing and unedited excerpts? Do you post all the time about how difficult your writing day was, or do you prefer to talk about how much you love it? If you don’t feel comfortable posting something, chances are that other people feel the same way.
Everyone else is not a better writer than you. You are unique, and your writing is so much better than you are able to tell. In the end, no one is a perfect writer. Everyone has bad writing. Everyone has bad days. The difference is that you get to see all of yours, and none of anyone else’s. Never judge yourself against another writer, because that is an impossible task. We are our own harshest judges, comparing the worst version of ourselves against the best version of everyone else. And in the end, they’re not our benchmark. The only writer we need to beat is the writer that we were yesterday.
Do you ever feel like everyone’s better than you? How do you combat this feeling? Do you ever struggle to see the good in your own writing? Let’s chat!
This is a great topic to address, because it’s so true for writers! We question whether we are good enough, when instead, we should be embracing the words and stories we like to write. It’s never fair to compare our writing (or anything else!) to someone else’s! Thanks for the reminder!
It’s hard to keep holding onto faith in yourself and your writing abilities, isn’t it? Sometimes I’m confident, and sometimes I wonder why I ever thought I was good. And it’s almost always because I’m comparing myself to someone else. I guess I really need this reminder myself sometimes!
I think especially for creatives, there are a lot of ups and downs in how we feel about our creations. Sometimes we’re on top of the world, but a lot of times we feel like what we created borders on garbage. It’s really important to remember that the creating itself is important, and to value our writing for what it gives us. Looking at my book as a stepping stone in the story of my life has helped me remember 1) not to compare (but that’s hard!) and 2) to love my story because it was the best work I could do with where I was. In other words, people’s writing is uniquely them. That in itself is valuable! Thanks again. 🙂 I’m excited to read your book!