12 Things Everyone Tells You About Writing But Maybe You Need to Hear Them Again

1. Most people don’t get anything they write published on the first try.

2. All writers start out writing terribly. There is plenty of room (and time) to grow.

3. You don’t “get good” at writing ONLY by reading books about writing.

4. You don’t have to have a book published to be considered a writer.

5. It’s hard.

6. Sometimes it feels like everyone is better than you and this is 100 percent not true.

7. Only some people are better at writing than you. And some people always will be. And this is a good thing.

8. You need to not be the best. It keeps you grounded and reminds you that there is always room for self-improvement. You can always write something better than what you wrote last time.

9. A writing goal can be anything you want, as long as it involves writing and as long as you’re starting now.

10. People can criticize your work. But they can’t control how you feel about yourself.

11. If you enjoy writing, then you should write. It doesn’t matter if you’re good at it, if you’ll ever make money doing it or if anyone will ever read what you write. Just tell the stories on your heart and worry about the rest later.

12. The only way to get better at writing is to keep writing. No matter what.

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.