I'm a Young Author...My Writing Stinks

So...in an effort to find something interesting to blog about, I have been reading lots and lots of articles. Trying to find something, anything, that pertains to young authors. Tips. Success Stories. Anything.

There's a lot out there, by the way.

Unfortunately...

The stories did not motivate me and the tips made very little to absolutely no sense to this author. Yes, I know. I'm wacky. But I'm serious. I couldn't relate. And the tips that actually made sense I'm already doing, in various degrees.

And I now have a headache.

I want to complain and say I wasted my time. But I won't. Because I think I did learn some things reading all those articles. They were written by many different people. Reading a lot of different voices, especially on the same topic, really gets my mind going with what works and what doesn't. Because some of those articles I found interesting, and some (that happened to say exactly the same thing, just in different words) I hated.

One thing I ran into a lot in the advice department was this: you are a young author, your writing is horrendous.

Ow.

It is probably true. I mean, I look back even now at stuff I wrote a couple years ago and I cringe. So, in ten years I'll probably want to do a second edition of Lucy's Legend. Still, as a starry-eyed young author who loves her little pieces of brilliance it took some real effort not to be offended by all those articles saying the same thing.

You stink.

I realize, they're undoubtedly right.

As young authors, we don't have the experience and wisdom that older authors can draw from that gives their writing so much relevance. When you have experience your writing is grounded in reality. Relationships seem real because they ARE. When you're young, you have very limited resources to draw from, where self is concerned. Of course there's always mentors and so forth, but on the whole...limited experience leads to limited writing, in terms of talent.

Unless you're a freak of nature.

That's the other thing so many articles said. You are a young author so your writing can't get worse...unless you're a freak of nature in which case you are awesome, but who knows if it will last.

Gee, thanks.

I did find encouragement in a lot of the articles I read though. Keep writing, keep reading...your writing will improve. You have to keep doing it. No matter if it's good or bad now, just do it. Because you'll grow, your writing will grow...you'll mature together.

Someday, you may  be brilliant.

But whether you ever reach that point or not, keep writing. And always remember that even the best writers still have room for improvement. So never stop learning.

And that is what I am going to take away from my research today.

I may deeply inhale (haha) right now, but I'll keep writing anyway. Or I may be a freak of nature (I doubt it) but I'll keep writing anyway.

As long as something I write puts a smile on somebody's face, I will feel I have succeeded...even if my writing does stink. :)