I can now more easily identify what isn’t working in my writing. Then I can either change it or drop it. I only had a sm

Babies, we know, don’t mean to annoy anyone. They’re babies! Even when they make others uncomfortable, good-hearted people do their best to be kind to them. We give babies the maximum benefit of the doubt. When they make mistakes, we give them a pass knowing they’re still learning. We’re kind to them.,Having good taste coupled with a desire to work is the path to reaching your potential. Not loving your work means you are closing that gap between where you are and your potential.,“Unfortunately, writers in the depths of this “crap phase” will often wonder if it’s worth their time to continue. That struggle — that feeling that you’re wasting your time — is a sign that you’re probably on the right path. But most people quit, not realizing that nearly every writer who does excellent work went through a phase of years where they had really good taste, but they produced total crap.”-Jane Friedman,I never stop writing. This is the most important one. If I learned anything from all the writing articles I’ve read and authors I’ve spoken to it’s that persistence is key to being successful as a writer.,If the best authors feel like this, then so can I. I read other writers for both inspiration from their beautiful work or camaraderie in knowing we have both felt like I do. Whenever I’m stuck or down on my writing, I read.,“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”,I know my old crappy work has value. If nothing else, it is a stepping stone to where I am today. A little higher. A little better. So I won’t hate it. I’ll value it for providing me the opportunity to get better. I’ll respect it. I’ll be grateful for it.,“All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. 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, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you.,I can imagine the perfect article in my head, I just don’t have the chops to write it yet. I know how some writing from other authors has made me feel. Someday I want to write in a way to make others feel the same way. Inspired. Amazed. Like I’m sitting alone with that author and they are talking directly to me.,I know my old crappy work has value. If nothing else, it is a stepping stone to where I am today. A little higher. A little better. So I won’t hate it. I’ll value it for providing me the opportunity to get better. I’ll respect it. I’ll be grateful for it.,Of course, I’m going to think some of my first articles were crap if I now have a better feel for what isn’t crappy. Hating your early work in any artistic endeavor is normal. But cut it some slack as it gave you a ride to where you are today.,Where am I today compared to where I was when I started? I’m infinitely higher as a writer. I can either look at all my bad writing as a worthless waste of time, or I can look at it as a pile I’m standing on that elevates me to a level I’d never have reached without it.,“Read, read, read. Read everything — trash, classics, good and bad, and see how they do it. Just like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master. Read! You’ll absorb it. Then write. If it’s good, you’ll find out. If it’s not, throw it out of the window.” ― William Faulkner,I try to read the best writing I can. The better quality I take in, the better I’ll put out. I try to read stories that are written so beautifully they feel more like a painting than an article.,I started today hating everything I’ve written. I wrote this article and now I’m feeling better. Sometimes just starting to write is all it takes to break out of that funk a writer can sometimes get.