Believe In Your Writing

    By Hannah Bartels      

          Writing.  It’s something we many of us take great pleasure in doing.  We use it to express ourselves, to escape, to share our lives with others; however, sharing our work with others is not always so easy.  Confidence is one thing many writers lack and one thing that is very important to have. 

          I don’t know about anyone else, but I often put very personal experiences on paper.  I use writing to get out my emotions, my feelings towards people or situations and to make sure I don’t forget certain experiences or feelings.  When I have to show these pieces of writing, these chunks of my life, to other people, I get very uncomfortable.  Nerves start to kick in, I get butterflies in my stomach and I automatically assume they are going to hate it.  When it comes time to hand it over to the reader, I start to criticize the work myself, saying things like: “It’s not my best work, don’t look too much into it, I wrote it really quickly.”  Getting people’s opinions about my work, something that I put so much hard work in, terrifies me.  One of my biggest fears is that they’ll put me down as a writer.  Personally, I don’t think anything I write is very impressive, but to have other people tell me that would probably crush me, and I can’t pinpoint why.

I am also horrified of showing my writing to my friends and family.  Peers are one thing, but people who actually know me, and what I've gone through, do not read my writing.  I always fear that they may send me to a psychiatrist or something because some of my writing topics are pretty deep and depressing.  This is something I, and other writers who have the same problem, need to get over.  Family and friends are probably the best critics, because they will (hopefully) always be willing to read whatever you hand them.  And they will realize and understand that you can’t always write about sunshine and rainbows. They will also realize that just because the topic of your writing is melancholic, it does not mean that you are actually depressed. 

          I really lose confidence when I read my classmates’ and peers’ writing.  I feel that everyone is so much more talented than I am.  When I go on the class forum and read people’s posts, I immediately read my entries and tear them apart until I think they’re at least a little decent.  I picture them reading my posts or texts and laughing at how terrible of a writer I am.  I don’t think I am alone on this one.  What I’ve discovered is there will always be someone better: a better athlete, better dancer, better musician, and, of course, a better writer.  Even though someone will be better than you, it does not mean you lack talent.  If we are confident in our writing, then it will show; but, if we are self-conscious and continuously pick at a sentence or paragraph until we think other people will like it, it will show and people will know you’re trying too hard.

          I am not the best writer and that’s a fact, but what I know is that we need to write for ourselves and just let the words flow out onto the paper (or the computer screen) without worrying what people will think about it.  In the world of literature and writing, confidence really is key.