Many years ago when I was in my early 20s, I remember that I had written this short story about an escaped slave girl and her adventures on the run. I thought it was really good and I had plans to possibly turn it into a book. I could even visualize it as a multi-episode TV series.
And then my dad read it.
When I eagerly asked him what he thought, he pretty much told me that I needed to keep working at it. It was okay, but it didn't have enough drama or interesting things happening in the story. What he meant, but didn't come right out and say, was that it was boring.
What? No praise for his princess?
Oh, man! That was disappointing.
My dad was a self-taught artist who painted portraits. I looked up to him as a person who knew natural talent when he saw it. So, his unenthusiastic review of my not-so-awesome story was a reality check. Of course, individual taste in stories is subjective, and my dad was only one person, but it made me take a second look at what I'd written.
You see, it was a first effort at writing this type of story. Although, I was an avid reader of fiction, and had enjoyed my creative writing assignments in school while growing up, I'd never really taken it too seriously. I had created a decent story, but didn't know how to take it to another level, where real fiction writers earned their gold stars.
I was at the beginning level of my fiction writing journey, and I'd have to keep working on my storytelling skills before others thought that what I created was really good.
When you're first starting out as a writer, it's really easy to fall in love with what you've written and think it's the best thing since sliced bread. But, if you haven't done much writing up to that point, it's more likely to read very amateurish.
And that's okay!
We all have to start somewhere.
In order to get better at writing you have to . . . well, write. And write, and write some more.
If you are someone who is already writing things like: short stories, articles, reports, essays, blog postings, marketing materials, online reviews, powerpoint presentations and white papers, you are already used to expressing yourself with the written word.
You are going to be a better writer than someone who has little experience.
This is just the way it is.
Be realistic about where you're at as a writer.
Are you a beginner?
Or, are you at a more advanced level?
Regardless of where you're at, try to be objective about the quality of your writing. I mean, most of us have read a few good books in our time. We already have an idea of what good writing is.
It's one thing to be proud of your writing. It's another to read it back and KNOW that it ROCKS.
Being a good writer is something that comes with time, practice and dedication.
If your goal is to be the best writer you can be, then you'll earn that gold star status, and readers will enjoy what you've written and let you know it.
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