There are several things I’ve noticed in the writing community. More specifically, lies that people are believing.

I mean, let’s be honest here, lies that I’ve believed at one time or another.

These lies can be crippling to you and your writing. You might not even know that you believe them. I didn’t always.

Lie 01. Practice Makes Perfect

You hear this phrase all the time. But the thing is, it doesn’t actually apply to most situations. There aren’t many things that someone can be perfect in. And writing is definitely not one of them.

Practice does not make perfect. Practice makes better. 

We will never ever be perfect writers. We will never achieve a level of not needing to learn anything more. Ask any published author, and they’ll probably tell you that they are still learning, they have weaknesses, and they’ll never stop learning. But practice is what keep them moving forward and improving.

Lie 02. Word-count is all that matters

I’ve seen writers convey shame because their book wasn’t over 50k words. Or 80k. Or 100k. Or they beat themselves up over the fact that they only wrote a few hundreds words this week.

I believe in quality over quantity. 

Being a fast writer doesn’t make you a better writer. Sure, it helps crank the words out faster, but everyone is different and everyone’s creative process is different. If you take longer than most to write a story, then that’s okay. As long as it’s the best you can do, what more can anyone ask? What more can you ask of yourself?

Wouldn’t you rather write one awesome novel a year over writing five terrible ones?

Lie 03. My writing is terrible/everyone is better than me

I think this is one more writers deal with than they let one. To be honest, I deal with this on a regular basis. It’s something I have to constantly battle against.

But what I find for most writers is that their writing is better than they think it is. It’s easy to fall into the comparison thing, especially with writers the same age. You’d expect an adult published author to have better writing than you, but for some reason when it’s someone closer to your age, it’s a bit harder to swallow.

Let me tell you, nobody’s perfect. Never has been and never will be. Yes, there are people who are better than you. And there are people that aren’t where you’re at yet. But you’re exactly where God wants you to be at this time. You’re not in a ditch, you on  a road moving forward. Trust God in where He wants to take your writing. He has plans for you, so don’t measure your success against others.

Lie 04. I’m not a real writer

A writer is a writer not because she writes well and easily, because she has amazing talent, or because everything she does is golden. A writer is a writer because, even when there is no hope, even when nothing you do shows any sign of promise, you keep writing anyway.   -Junot Diaz (not sure who that is)

I’ve heard a lot of writers say they weren’t real writers because they didn’t write every day, or they didn’t want to be published, or their writing was terrible. You are a writer because you write. You don’t have to be a pro at it, or want to make money from it. You are a writer because you love it, and you write despite imperfection. 

Lie 05.  My message doesn’t matter

God gave you that story idea, that theme, that message for a reason. He doesn’t do things for nothing. He wants to use it in someway. Maybe to change someone’s life, maybe to change your life. How do you measure success?

So write that story with all your heart, because you never know who might read it. Someone that desperately needed the message that your wrote, and maybe didn’t even know it.

I hope maybe you were inspired by this, even if you didn’t believe in any of these lies. Let me know down in the comments more lies you’ve noticed writers believing, and maybe I’ll do a part 2. 😉

Write on,

What lies have you noticed in the writing community? Did you believe any of these lies? How do you overcome them?

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