Thursday 3 September 2020

Outside Perspective

I am lacking what I would consider "believable outside perspective" on a lot of things.  But for now, I'm talking about my writing.

I impulsively joined a 21 day writing course (?) online and it's day 2 (or 3?) of it as I write this and I have done exactly nothing. 

They suggested we join a Facebook group for the course and I did and people are sharing some of the writing they're doing and I keep thinking "is mine better or is mine just as... average as theirs?"  Like, do I (occasionally) like my writing but don't have the outside perspective to see that it's... blah?

I know some of you very kindly have told me from time to time that my writing is good.  But you're, if I dare to say so, biased.  You choose to be here and read and, well, I'm aware that it's all just... perspective.  Like, some people like Stephen King's writing.  Others do not.  I've enjoyed some of his books so I suppose I'm neutral?  So I'm aware that there isn't really ONE truth about "good writing" and even that there are different types of writing but I also know that some writing is clunky or hard to read or awkward or not very good.  And the writing that I'm reading is personal and not being shared for critique but I did take some writing classes in my first or second year of university and I was (at the time) devastated by the "criticism" (you know, what the professors are actually meant to do?) and that probably scared me off.  That, and the fact that writing, in the world I was raised in, is a hobby more than a job.  (Unless you count journalism or something...)

But yeah, I'm realizing as people share a sentence or phrase or two that I am not a good judge of my writing and I can't even tell if I'm "too harsh" or "too kind" about it.

I suppose that's some insight that could be valuable. 

4 comments:

Jason Langlois said...

You understand that we choose to be hear and read because your writing is good. If your writing wasn't, it'd be hard to keep coming back.

That I'm not exaggerating when I say you can take a few paragraphs on "I have nothing to write" (and lets point out you found a few paragraphs to write about having nothing write about, which is already a sign you're a good writer), and making it interesting.

You've written thousands and thousands of words in this blog alone, and I go back and read some of them again because they're good posts.

Just write what you want to write, and based on everything I've seen here, it'll be good. Much like your art, photography, and probably everything else creative you do ... I think you've got that spark and talent.

Victoria said...

I appreciate that and will hold back my "yeah but...." negative rebuttals to your kind thoughts.

Jason Langlois said...

As someone who suffers heavily from imposter syndrome, I can say that at some point you really do have to accept that when people are telling you that you are good at something ... you might actually be good at it. ;)

Victoria said...

Gah! ;) thanks