When I was younger, I felt that my writing was the best in the world. I would fill up my notebooks with novels* and would write anytime, anywhere. My hands couldn't write my words fast enough and the side of my hand would be black with lead or ink (shoutout to fellow lefties). And when I was given a laptop from my school to complete my work on, I couldn't help but use Word to type faster than my hands could write. I only questioned my writing quality whenever I'd edit. Even then, I didn't see so many problems that I lost confidence in how I wrote.
But as I'm writing this project, I can't help but be critical at every turn. Dialogue has never been my strength and I'm reminded of that with this current work. The dialogue is odd and unrealistic. And my character interactions are even stranger. This critical thinking on the first draft is a detriment to my progress.
First drafts are meant to be horrible. They need to be horrible because it provides more insight into what the story needs to become something amazing. Yet I dislike producing low quality work, no matter what stage I'm at. I feel like my work has to be perfect from the beginning or else it can never be amazing. Being confronted by my weaknesses is unsettling. However, I need to remind myself that it's okay if my dialogue sucks and my characters' interactions are strange. These are aspects of my writing that are easier to fix when I've established the rest of my story and can focus more of my attention on them. Plus, it will be fun to look back on this draft and see how much progress I've made in the future.
Don't let your inner critic tear you down, whatever projects you're working on. Progress can't exist without making mistakes or struggles.
*They were the length of short stories and not novels, but I didn't know that then.
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