How Not to Hate Your Writing

You re-read everything you wrote today. You don’t only dislike it. You hate it. You ctrl+A and consider deleting the lot, before taking a breath and thinking ‘maybe some of it is salvageable’. Maybe. You need to learn not to hate your writing.

You are not alone. Every writer, everywhere on this planet has experienced writing anxiety. We asked you to share your top tips to help overcome those nagging voices stopping you from living your best writing life.

We asked you:

What are your best tips for reducing writing anxiety? How do you stop yourself from judging your writing too harshly?#amwriting #writerslife #authors #writingcommunity #nanowrimo #writer #writing

— Novlr (@novlrtweets) February 27, 2019

8 ways to stop hating everything you write

Compiled from our favourite responses

1. Just keep writing

You don’t stop. Only an audience made up of your friends and parents will go easy on you.

— from Rob Fitl (@FITLBOX)

2. Write what interests you

Only write about things which entertain you. Last thing you want is to be bored by your own writing.

— from julieP (@readmynovels)

3. Pretend you love it

I defeat writing anxiety by pretending I’m just writing for fun… like painting 🎨

— from Rylann Watts (@RylannWatts)

4. Keep going, even when it hurts

It’s like running. When you start out you’ll be rubbish. Some days it’s going to hurt. The people that get up and do it anyway, even when it hurts are the people that get good.

— from Kimberley Montgomery (@kimberley_mont – Novlr CEO)

5. Don’t take it too seriously

Remember, you’re just telling a story. No big deal.

— from julieP (@readmynovels)

6. Don’t quit – you need the experience.

“For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste […] is still killer. And that is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit.”

— Ira Glass in ‘Stroytelling’

7. Step away for a while.

I get easily overwhelmed with anxiety and impostor syndrome when I am writing (especially when I am editing my writing). My best advice is to step away and do something else for a bit. I usually knit when this happens.

— from Catherine E. Kovach (@Catherin3Kovach)

8. Create the work, don’t judge the work.

Write to your best ability. Put all of your creativity and skill into your present writing. Then send it out into the world, promote it the best you can, and let readers decide its value to them.

— from Stacey Anderson Laatsch (@AndersonLaatsch in this article)

Some excellent advice there from a range of writers and authors. I hope this helps you to remember your worth and not be so hard on yourself when it comes to criticising your own work. Are you ready to write now? Do you have your own tips for how not to hate your writing?