We all have authors who we greatly admire, who we feel have perfected the craft in a manner far beyond our abilities. There are also authors who we can’t believe are enjoying the success they are despite writing what you may feel is a pithy pile of…whatever. You get the picture.
If you start comparing yourself to writers who you consider among the greatest, you will be paralyzed and unable to write that first word, feeling you can never live up to that standard of writing.
The same holds true in an opposite way by comparing yourself to authors whose writing you find less admirable. You may view their success as an excuse to work less hard to create your perfect book thinking, if she can get away with it and sell a million copies, so can I.
Write true to yourself. Remind yourself that you’re a good writer. There are readers out there who enjoy every style of writing at varying degrees of complexity or simplicity. Write to your own style and some day aspiring authors will be comparing themselves to you.
Fifty two weeks of writers’ tips from Catherine O’Connell
