Being a writer is not always fun and easy, and you might not always have a group of bookish cheerleaders encouraging you to keep going. What you could have, though, is affirmations for writers, and that’s exactly what you’re getting in this post. You’re welcome.
Because I’m here to help and not just to cheer you on, I’ve also included resources that help you do that writing thing more successfully.
Related reading: Where to find writing motivation – How to stop cringing at your writing
I am free to write garbage, I know how to fix it
Overthinking the quality of your writing while you’re trying to write is the best way to stall any progress. Don’t try to be critical when you should be creating – it’s not going to work.
You can write garbage. Writing garbage is fine. Garbage is neutral. You have what it takes to make your writing better, but first you need to write something.
Extra help: How to edit a novel without getting overwhelmed – The best writing exercises
My future readers are waiting for my book
No rush or anything, but there are people waiting to read the book that only you can write. What’s going to happen if you don’t write it? Will they just have to read another Stephen King book? Surely you don’t want that.
Imagine if your favourite author had never written your favourite book. Doesn’t sound very good, does it? Well, you could be putting your future readers in the same position if you keep procrastinating on writing or if you keep thinking you’re not good enough to do it. Keep writing! Finish that book!
Extra help: How to write the boring parts of your story – Avoiding and fixing plot holes – Why is writing a novel so hard
Starting from zero is better than never starting
You might be scared of starting from zero, whether that means doing your very first writing exercise, sharing your first fanfic or coming up with your first novel outline, but for every frightened beginner there are a million people who never start.
Let’s be real: people who wait to be perfect before they make any moves are boring AF. Focus more on your own experiences rather than performing for other people who probably aren’t watching you that closely anyway. (The only people are have the time to watch you are the ones not doing anything themselves, and who cares what those guys are doing anyway.)
Extra help: The best beginner writer tips – How to start writing a novel with no experience – Writing a book for the first time
I can’t control my reviews but I can control how well I write
In this life, there are jobs for you to handle and jobs for other people (or the universe) to handle. Learn to know the difference.
You can’t control what anyone says, let alone thinks, about your writing, but you can control how much effort you put into your work and how much you’re willing to improve. Just commit to doing your best and let other people feel how they feel about your work – that’s literally all you can do.
Extra help: 5 signs you’re not ready to write a novel – How many times should you edit a novel?
Nobody’s writing is perfect and it’s safe to make mistakes
Did a typo slip through 15 rounds of edits, ending up on the first page of your self-published novel? Did you accidentally send a picture of your cat to the agent you were querying? Did nobody notice you misspelled the capital of Madagascar in your novel? It’s not that big a deal.
This isn’t a free pass for doing shoddy work, because we both know you’ll sleep better when you know you’ve done your best, but the reality is that the only way to avoid mistakes is to never do anything at all. Just say “oops”, fix it if you can, commit to doing a better job next time, and move on.
Extra help: Beginner writer mistakes I made (so you don’t have to)
My point of view is unique enough
Writers can often be concerned about the uniqueness of their stories, but with so many stories in the world, it’s impossible to write something completely unique. You might want to be special, but trying to be unique for the sake of being unique will likely yield you terrible results.
Write stories that feel true to you, whether it’s your memoir or a fantasy epic, and do it like only you can. When you stop trying to be something and you just be yourself and share what you know about the world (even if it’s through the mouth of a 500-year-old elven character), your stories will be unique enough. If you don’t know how to do that, you’ll want to go out and do some more living first.
Extra help: How to write unique stories – Where to find writing inspiration
I am not in competition with other writers, there will always be readers
Have you ever heard a reader say “nah, I already read one romance author’s books, I don’t need more”? I didn’t think so. You’re right, it’s impossible to read everything you’d like to read due to the finite nature of human lifespan, but there are so many people in the world that you don’t really need to fight for readers with other authors. You’re not lions fighting for the same zebra carcass and this isn’t war.
It’s true, not everyone will get published, and publishers have budgets to consider, but if another author is doing really well, that just brings more money into the publishing industry which means more books can be published. What you should focus on is making your next book better than your last instead of trying to compete with other writers.
Extra help: Tips for becoming a better writer
Writing a novel is always an achievement and I am proud of myself
I’ve been reading books for a long time and I’ve come across some real turds in that time, so I’m not going to pretend every book is amazing just because someone wrote it. But still, there isn’t some invisible line you need to cross before you can be proud of finishing writing a novel – just be proud anyway.
Especially in this day and age, there are far too many people who think they should be congratulated for “writing” something they didn’t actually write, and you know exactly what I’m talking about here. But you? You wrote 500 pages of Legolas and Gimli making out and talking about cryptocurrency? I’m not going to read that, but I’m still proud of you, and I hope that you’re proud of yourself too.
Extra help: How to start (and finish) writing a novel – Why your word count is zero (YT)
Getting published doesn’t define my worth
Getting that publishing deal is nice, but it doesn’t make you more valuable as a human. You don’t have to wait until you’re a traditionally published author to feel good about yourself. If you currently feel like you’re “less than”, getting published and becoming successful isn’t the thing that’s going to fix it even if it might temporarily make you feel better.
You might NEVER get published, and your self-published novel could make you exactly zero dollars, but it still wouldn’t change anything. Your worth is unchanging.
Extra help: How to get traditionally published
If you found any of these affirmations helpful, I hope you’ll stick around and see how else I could help you! You can find the rest of my posts here, and I strongly encourage you to hang out with me on my YouTube channel.
If you’re still a beginner writer, you should check out my totally free Start Your Novel course.
Protagonist Crafts is a blog about writing fiction, written by a published author and creative writing teacher. You can find more writing tips and inspiration in the blog and you can get the best author tools at Writer Lifestyle on Etsy.
