You’re Always a Better Writer Than The Last Thing You Wrote

Do you enjoy a good session of self-criticism? If so (what writer doesn’t?) and you’ve been writing for a while, may I recommend you go back to something you wrote a while ago. Preferably, years before.

In the best version of this self-flagellation, this will be something that you’ve already published, or it otherwise lives out in public view.

Yes, that’s right. It’s little…meh.

Let this reality wash over you. You WROTE this! You really LIKED it at the time. In fact, maybe you were even PROUD of it.

Now, before you think that I’m totally evil, I’m going to share a little secret with you. Lean in close. It’s one of those dark and unspoken secrets of the writer’s life:

You’re always a better writer than the last thing you wrote.

It’s Not Regret; It’s Practice

Skills are not static. The more we practice, the more easily we can perform the skill…the more we automate its smaller movements.

The less we practice, the rustier our skills get. Though we usually don’t forget them altogether (It’s like riding a bike!), we won’t be as elegant as we once were, if we neglect to use our skills.
The same goes with writing.

The good news is, as long as we’re practicing, we’re keeping ourselves limber, and giving ourselves the chance to improve. The bad news is that we might look back at our earlier work with something like regret. But we shouldn’t regret the practice that got us where we are today.

You Will Never Be 100% Happy With That Chapter

I see two basic, and diametrically opposed, reactions in myself and other writers, faced with a piece of work we’ve been tooling with for a while: an inability to let go, and an absolute hatred of ever looking at the work again.

The first is an endless, obsessive polishing. This isn’t good enough, this isn’t good enough. We re-read and revise in never-ending cycles, punctuated sometimes by asking for feedback from hapless friends and writer buddies. Each time, we have an idea of how to make it better. “Have you finished that story?” they might ask us, and we’re horrified by the idea that it should see the light of day.

The second is to throw our hands up in the air, shove our work away from us in disgust, and exclaim, “I’m so sick of this! I never want to see it again.”

Both of these reactions are problematic in different ways. We definitely shouldn’t avoid work that needs doing. But of the two, I find the first reaction more insidious. Because it can keep you from producing any work, ever.

As an editor, I can tell you: you’re pretty much never going to be 100 percent happy with that chapter/book/article.

Oh, you might come to a point where you recognize when something is pretty darn good. Could you make it better tomorrow, or next week? Probably. But at a certain point, clinginess isn’t healthy. Bless the work, and let it go.

A Healthier Way to Look Back Over Your Work

Now, to get back to our self-critical exercise. Find that piece of work again, which you were pleased with at the time and now find mildly (or mostly) embarrassing. Find something you wrote before it, and something you’ve written since. Find a few more, in either direction. Put together a little reading list.

Now, start from the oldest, and work your way forward. See your evolution, like the turning pages of a flip book. Witness how you confidently use skills that used to be difficult for you, and learn new ones.

That’s the way to see your writing—as part of an ongoing process.

Bottom Line

Past Writer You is never going to be Today’s Writer You. But that’s OK. Your work will only ever capture where you were at that moment—but you are always in motion.

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Need a second set of eyes on your work? Let’s schedule a time to chat and let’s see what you’ve got.

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