1. You’ve just started writing and no one seems interested, so you must be doing something wrong.
2. You’ve started a lot of projects but you don’t think any of them are very good.
3. You don’t think you write “like a real writer.”
4. Someone on the internet said so.
5. A voice in your head told you so.
6. When you look at other people’s writing, you just don’t think yours measures up.
7. You’ve never taken a writing class.
8. You’ve never read a writing book.
9. You never did that well on writing assignments in school.
10. You’ve gotten more rejections than acceptances.
11. You don’t have the confidence to keep trying.
12. You’ll never be able to compete with all the other writers out there.
None of these things are true, of course. It doesn’t matter how you’ve been graded or critiqued in the past. It doesn’t matter how many other people are doing it or if they seem better at this whole writing thing than you. If you don’t think you’re great at writing, the only way to get better is to keep writing. Don’t get too down on yourself. We all have moments it seems we shouldn’t keep going, but those moments will pass.
Don’t give up. Keep trying. I promise, it will be worth it.
Meg is the creator of Novelty Revisions, dedicated to helping writers put their ideas into words. She is a staff writer with The Cheat Sheet, a freelance editor and writer, and a 10-time NaNoWriMo winner. Follow Meg on Twitter for tweets about writing, food and nerdy things.
Meg Dowell Writes 
Wait, so I shouldn’t trust the voices in my head? They’re pretty damn convincing. x.x