Appreciate Your Talents

One thing that I always have a hard time with, in my writing and otherwise, is being overcritical. We are our own worst critics, as they say, and I think it tends to be doubled in writers. Every word has to be perfect. Every comma has to be perfectly placed and every sentence has to shine.

And, of course, there's no way in hell that we're actually decent. Oh no. Everyone is better than us. Really, we kind of suck. Thoughts like this fill my head more often than I'd like to admit, and I confess to being entirely too dumbstruck when people complement my work. I'm always terrified that people are just humoring me. It's been less severe in recent months, now that my overall self-esteem has improved and I'm beginning to actually appreciate...well, myself.

But it's still there, that self-depreciation. It's kind of stupid, really. Appreciate your talents, people! You're not J.K. Rowling or Stephen King, but damn it, you've got talent of your own. And if it takes you twenty drafts to get something you like...well, hey, guess what? There aren't a lot of people in this world that will stick with something that long. Determination is a valuable trait, and if you've got it, you're on it. You're in the game and you'll go far.

Appreciate your skills and talents and don't be so hard on yourselves. That's my advice for the week, and I hope we can all overcome those blocks and really see how fantastic we are. Because we are a fantastic bunch, we writers. A little nuts, a little insecure, but a whole lotta fun.

I hope you all have a great evening and that your writing goes well and that, if you don't already, you can learn to appreciate your talents. Hell, I hope I can appreciate mine more often. There's a difference between egotism and recognizing your strong suits, after all, and if you don't recognize your inner awesomeness...well, that's no fun, is it?

--J.