Saturday 5 September 2015

My Books Suck, My Writing Sucks, I Suck

This post is not some silly vampire-related play on words. The title of this post encompasses REAL thoughts that I've had at one point or another in my career, and I'm not afraid to say it. I think many writers go through periods of self-doubt, especially when things aren't going as well as they'd hoped. If I were to ONLY read my negative reviews (1 and 2 star reviews), I would likely be having these awful thoughts all the time. Likewise, if I were only to read my many glowing 5-star reviews, I would think I was the best writer in the world--which I'm not by a longshot. The true quality of my books and writing, however, is somewhere in the middle. That is reality. That is truth. That is what I need to focus on.

I've written A LOT of books. 25, to be exact, 23 published and 2 seeking to be published. Some are clearly better than others, but I should be proud of ALL of them, because I worked hard, focused on improving with each one, and gave a lot of readers a great reading experience.

Does that mean I've reached the pinnacle of my writing ability? NO! I've got a long way to go before I can even hope to emulate my writing idols, like Patrick Ness, Neal Shusterman, Libba Bray, and Dean Koontz. But I'm going to keep going, keep working, keep improving. That's a promise.

So if you're a writer having self-doubts...stop...breathe...remember:

YOU are the master of your own destiny. YOU have the capability inside of you. YOU have something to say.

No, my books DON'T suck, my writing DOESN'T suck, and I DON'T suck. I'm simply a work in progress, as a writer, as a husband, and as a person. And that's okay.

6 comments:

  1. Okay, my first reaction to the title of this one was to laugh pretty loudly! Partly because you or your books SO DO NOT SUCK! LOL!! But I get what you're saying here and I think everyone with a normal sized ego has these thoughts at one point or another. I just always try to look at things with a bit of perspective. And chances are, if I am "sucking" in one area of my life, another part of my life I'm doing very well. Its really hard to be good at everything all the time, because, HELLO we are human!

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    1. LOL, I'm glad the title made you laugh, that was the intention! And well said! That's a great perspective to have :)

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  2. I'm loving your blog! And have given me the spark I needed to get writing once again so thank you! I'm glad I stumbled upon you on Goodreads! -heidireads

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    1. Aww thank you SO MUCH, I'm so glad you're enjoying my blog and that you found me through Goodreads (my favorite site EVER). Best of luck with your writing and I'm honored to have inspired you to get back into it :) Keep in touch!!

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