In Writing Thoughts, Laura Spencer writes about Unhealthy Comparason. The feelings of self doubt we get when we compare ourselves to other writers who seem to be accomplishing more, doing better, etc.
“The trick when reading other writer’s works is to spend enough time so that you learn something usable, but not so much time that you get caught up in unhealthy comparisons.”
How do you deal with comparing yourself to other writers? Or, do you always think you compare well? It’s possible there are some writers arrogant or blind enough to think they are better than all others. I don’t think a lot of us would fall into that category. After all, you can’t learn anything new if you already think you know it all.
It’s not easy to find a balance of learning from other writers and not falling into despair over how so many seem to be doing better than we are ourselves. I certainly feel this way often enough. I wonder what it is about them that they are so capable. Sometimes I feel I have nothing to learn except to remember all my flaws.
Of course, this is never going to be a good way to inspire myself to keep going, keep writing and trying. I think we must all get to that point where we need to take a breath, step back and remember why we write. Why we love it.
Word Grrls is my mad science experiment, my adventures with fame and world domination (politely). This is where I inspire people to create: invent mutations, cause change, bring colour into your world. Web writer since 1998. Find me on StumbleUpon , and Tumblr.
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“The trick when reading other writer’s works is to spend enough time so that you learn something usable, but not so much time that you get caught up in unhealthy comparisons.”
That’s pretty good advice. I find it hard to judge whether my own writing is good or not.
Thanks for the comment on my blog. I responded on twitter but I figured I’d post something here too. Ficlets is now at http://ficly.com . You can read more about it there.
I try not to compare myself to great writers. I guess once I am published, I might change that thought, but for now I see myself as a hobby writer, so I’m unworthy of comparing myself to the likes of Dean Kootnz, Robert Ludlum…etc.
First of all, “hello” to another Laura
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With that out of the way, thanks for linking back to my blog. I’m happy to have inspired such a thoughtful post.
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