I loved reading this, thank you for your honesty! It’s actually very comforting to know that other, way more experienced writers also feel like this. I’m only just under a year into my writing career and every single time I submit anything, I descend into a pit of self-loathing and convince myself that’s the last paid work I’ll ever get, expecting any second to get an email saying “this isn’t up to standard....” Sometimes I’m paralysed by the negative thinking and seem to write random sentences which don’t relate to each other at all but somehow add up to the required word count. So thank you - I’m going to come back and read this again very soon!
I've discovered even the most famous and talented authors are never satisfied with their published works. All writers see their words out there and feel a deep desire to rewrite it, knowing they could do a better job now. And that may be true. I think when it comes to writing, we have to teach ourselves to allow a stopping point for our writing and revising. Otherwise, nothing will get published. Or live with constant feelings of inadequacy from reading our words that have been released into the world.
Leo Tolstoy is the perfect example. He rewrote the entire novel "War and Peace" seven times over the years. He was a hardcore perfectionist.
As for other authors, it isn't unusual for many to be compelled to rewrite their earlier work before allowing publishers to release it again. Both Stephen King and Dean Koontz have done this as well as many other authors.
With all that said, I'm incredibly guilty of being hard on my own writing. I don't think I'll ever develop that inflated author's ego, even if I were to become crazy famous. I tend to hold myself to my standards and not others.
Obviously you already know about all the above. Better than I do, without a doubt.
I truly appreciated this part:
"It took me a long time to understand that my instinct to communicate with friends and acquaintances – because I am a Chatty Cathy – should be guiding how I communicate in my work too."
Never thought about things that way. But makes total sense. Thank you for this article. It is a relief for a writer such as yourself to share your inner struggles and how they impacted you. And how you evolved to not let it hold you back as much anymore.
I loved this! Thanks for being so honest and sharing the difficulties of writing and how it can be a long road. It's often disheartening to look at other writers and feel like they have it all figured out. It's good to know that even the best took time to get there : )
I love this letter, Hattie! I really admire the way you demystify the 'craft' of writing in your podcast and you do that here too. Thank you for your words (all of them!).
This was encouraging to read. Thank you, Hattie. I think the proliferation of social media and online personas gives the impression that quality and skill is or can be achieved overnight. We rarely hear the full story of where and how people began so we believe it all happens in a moment, like magic, when in fact, as you beautifully said, there is a catching up to one's taste and a settling into one's skin that needs to happen first to make the art truly unique and a full expression of "us".
“If I don’t know where to start, I ask myself how I would quickly summarise the story to a friend”...Such great advice! I did some freelance work once upon a time for a local journal that had a lot of advertorials. And I approached things similarly--dump everything into a doc and start from there.
The thing is that most people tell me they enjoy my writing because it feels like a conversation. So why wouldn’t I start with that conversation and go from there?!
Oh Hattie, this is a great story. Thank you so much. I've been working hard all week on my writing and I feel exactly the way Ira Glass describes in your beautifully chosen video. It takes a long time... and that's okay if I get there.
By the way, I have a cock-up story. As a kid of twenty-five I won a national photojournalism competition run by the Sunday Times. I was a legend in my now lunchtime for about five minutes. They sent me on a assignment to photograph the Archbishop of Canterbury for the 'Charles and Di' issue of the magazine. I made an idiotic rookie error with the flash and sent them a roll of blank film. That was my last assignment for the Sunday Times. It ruined my confidence for twenty years.
I loved reading this, thank you for your honesty! It’s actually very comforting to know that other, way more experienced writers also feel like this. I’m only just under a year into my writing career and every single time I submit anything, I descend into a pit of self-loathing and convince myself that’s the last paid work I’ll ever get, expecting any second to get an email saying “this isn’t up to standard....” Sometimes I’m paralysed by the negative thinking and seem to write random sentences which don’t relate to each other at all but somehow add up to the required word count. So thank you - I’m going to come back and read this again very soon!
I've discovered even the most famous and talented authors are never satisfied with their published works. All writers see their words out there and feel a deep desire to rewrite it, knowing they could do a better job now. And that may be true. I think when it comes to writing, we have to teach ourselves to allow a stopping point for our writing and revising. Otherwise, nothing will get published. Or live with constant feelings of inadequacy from reading our words that have been released into the world.
Leo Tolstoy is the perfect example. He rewrote the entire novel "War and Peace" seven times over the years. He was a hardcore perfectionist.
As for other authors, it isn't unusual for many to be compelled to rewrite their earlier work before allowing publishers to release it again. Both Stephen King and Dean Koontz have done this as well as many other authors.
With all that said, I'm incredibly guilty of being hard on my own writing. I don't think I'll ever develop that inflated author's ego, even if I were to become crazy famous. I tend to hold myself to my standards and not others.
Obviously you already know about all the above. Better than I do, without a doubt.
I truly appreciated this part:
"It took me a long time to understand that my instinct to communicate with friends and acquaintances – because I am a Chatty Cathy – should be guiding how I communicate in my work too."
Never thought about things that way. But makes total sense. Thank you for this article. It is a relief for a writer such as yourself to share your inner struggles and how they impacted you. And how you evolved to not let it hold you back as much anymore.
I loved this! Thanks for being so honest and sharing the difficulties of writing and how it can be a long road. It's often disheartening to look at other writers and feel like they have it all figured out. It's good to know that even the best took time to get there : )
I love this letter, Hattie! I really admire the way you demystify the 'craft' of writing in your podcast and you do that here too. Thank you for your words (all of them!).
This was encouraging to read. Thank you, Hattie. I think the proliferation of social media and online personas gives the impression that quality and skill is or can be achieved overnight. We rarely hear the full story of where and how people began so we believe it all happens in a moment, like magic, when in fact, as you beautifully said, there is a catching up to one's taste and a settling into one's skin that needs to happen first to make the art truly unique and a full expression of "us".
“If I don’t know where to start, I ask myself how I would quickly summarise the story to a friend”...Such great advice! I did some freelance work once upon a time for a local journal that had a lot of advertorials. And I approached things similarly--dump everything into a doc and start from there.
The thing is that most people tell me they enjoy my writing because it feels like a conversation. So why wouldn’t I start with that conversation and go from there?!
This was amazing. So helpful, Hattie. Thank you so much for sharing all that so honestly with us! X
Oh Hattie, this is a great story. Thank you so much. I've been working hard all week on my writing and I feel exactly the way Ira Glass describes in your beautifully chosen video. It takes a long time... and that's okay if I get there.
By the way, I have a cock-up story. As a kid of twenty-five I won a national photojournalism competition run by the Sunday Times. I was a legend in my now lunchtime for about five minutes. They sent me on a assignment to photograph the Archbishop of Canterbury for the 'Charles and Di' issue of the magazine. I made an idiotic rookie error with the flash and sent them a roll of blank film. That was my last assignment for the Sunday Times. It ruined my confidence for twenty years.