Those days are the worst. When you look back over your plot notes, character sketches, and a few attempts at a beginning, and you get the creeping sense that maybe the world doesn’t need it. When you remember that you’re just one person in an endless sea of words, and you’re afraid they’re going to drown yours out. Yeah, those days are pretty bad.
Unless you decide to fight back.
Who else is going to tell this story? Who else has your voice? Who else sees the world the way you do? Who is you but you?
No one.
That may sound like a bunch of airy-fairy crap, but it’s true. (Not counting doppelgängers, of course.) Every writer is different, so it follows that their stories will be different as well. The days I described above usually happen when we compare ourselves and our work to others. But if all of us are different, what use is it to compare our stories to ‘Pride and Prejudice’, the ‘Hunger Games’, or ‘Harry Potter’? Or ourselves to those authors? None. Your words are yours and no one else’s. If you believe in them, work with them, make them grow, they will have weight and meaning with your readers.
Not so inconsequential now, eh?
We all have those days. It’s up to you whether you’ll give in to doubt and fear or push back with all your might, sitting down to write that day anyway. Your words are powerful. It’s just a matter of getting them down on paper. Don’t give up on your stories. Revive the spark that inspired you, that one thing you loved about that idea, and keep going. You’ll get there. And when you do, your readers will make you wonder how you ever doubted your writing’s worth at all.
What bad days have you had? What was your response? Did you have help pushing past the fear? Or did you give yourself a breather? Put your answers in the comments below! I’d love to hear from you.
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you found this post helpful.
Happy Wordsmithing!
Way of the Wordsmith 