My Thoughts On Writing

So often I fear uploading something because I feel it’s ‘not good enough’. I don’t think that fear will ever disappear but it’s useful to remind ourselves that our writing is constantly changing.

Last week I compared my writing from when I was younger to childhood photos of me: they exist because they were a part of me but years later they cause me to cringe and try to hide them in a cupboard. It may not be the best comparison but I do find myself looking back at my writing even three weeks ago and asking myself why I wrote the way I did.

Our writing changes due to the fact that we change. Before now I’ve written things and left them in my blog drafts and looked back at them months after and thought ‘how did I write like this’. I feel each day we all experience new and different things that influence who we are. Therefore the way we feel about and how we word things changes.

In addition there’s a quote I apply to many parts of my life and it is ‘don't compare your chapter 1 to someone's chapter 20’. In a way that applies to writing. I inevitably find myself yearning to write the way others do, their writing to me illustrates maturity and wisdom. Not until today, this second as I type this, I realise that I’m on my own writing trail and their on theirs. I’ve only reached the first gate, they’ve passed many.

To me, writing is so similar to who someone is. It’s a form of us expressing ourselves. I admire these people, whose writing I’m lucky enough to read, as I enjoy their writing as its individual to them and displays what they’ve been through. My writing would be boring if it was like theirs. The thing I appreciate the most is that their writing is individual and original.

Writing is like art work. Some you personally like and some you don’t. Many artists in the world dismiss favouring their own work. We are all our own biggest critics.

If you are ever in the situation where you are scared to put your writing out into the world  as you worry it’s ‘not good enough’, do it. Then you can start writing the next thing, whatever that may be, and you’ll soon identify that your growing and so is your writing. And I will try and do the same.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect would find its way onto this page. I’m going to leave it as it is and upload it. I hope at least one person can understand what I’m trying to say. Hope you have a good week.