Getting Over That Little Voice In Your Head

As Writers, everyone faces the challenge of overcoming that voice in their head that tells them what they are writing isn’t good enough.

I struggle with this on a daily basis. Imposters syndrome is a real thing and as a writer I experience it all the time, especially when competing against so many other people for a chance to get recognized.

As writers, rejection, kind of comes with the territory and it can be disheartening a lot of the time. Too often, I consider no even trying since I know the likelihood of me succeeding at my dreams will be a tough goal to reach. And when you try so hard and continue to fail, well quitting is never far from the back of my mind.

But, over the years, I’ve gotten a little better about how I handle rejection and failure.

Failure is a part of life. It’s what people have to experience everyday, whether that’s for a job, for our creative work, or even in our relationships. And because we are constantly being flooded with rejection, the world can sometimes feel heavy.

But, it’s important to remember your goals, your aspirations. What makes you get up in the morning? What makes you smile everyday? Remembering these things is vital to handling rejection and any kind of failure.

When comparing this to my writing, it can become a little tricky. As a writer, I strive for perfection, as I’m sure we all do. I’ll write one scene that will consist of 2500 words and then come back to it an hour later and scrap the whole thing because I didn’t think it was good enough or it didn’t properly convey the message I was looking for.

Writers are critical of themselves. It’s in our nature. We over think, over read, and over write almost EVERYTHING. It can be maddening at times. But it can also be a great way to learn.

I choose to see everything I do as a learning curve. The only way to get better at writing is to keep doing it. Even when I fail and don’t get the response I hoped for; it doesn’t mean my writing was bad. It just means it needs some work or maybe while it was good, someone preferred something else.

The annoying part about writing it is really all comes down to preference. Either you’re lucky enough to catch someone’s eye or you’re not.

Either way, writing is hard work and getting over all the negative thoughts in our heads can be excruciating.

Again, finding a way to turn something negative into a positive has always helped me. When I have to scrap a scene, an idea, or even a whole book concept, I tell myself it was necessary in order for me to come up with something better. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t and I have to step away from the computer and allow my mind the space to clear itself and think.

Life is a constant wed of lessons, interweaving itself together to form what makes up each of our lives.

If you struggle with getting over that voice in your head, I advise you to take the time to reflect, understand that it’s not always that you weren’t good enough, but that’s sometimes just how life goes. Take the news with a grain of salt, and continue to persevere. Facing our demons can be tough, but learning to accept them and move on is the only way to continue to move forward and succeed in life.