Since my post on the Mormon Mafia, I have been thinking a lot about comparisons. I find myself comparing me to others quite frequently, especially when it comes to my writing. And while sometimes it encourages me to work harder, most of the time comparing myself to others just makes me feel worse about myself.
It is easy to look at someone else and only see what they have that you don’t. It is easy to see that someone else got an agent, or a book deal, or a movie option, or anything else you don’t have yet and get depressed. It is easy to read someone’s crisp, clear writing and feel self-conscious about your messy prose. It is easy to get lost in someone else’s brilliant plot and feel insecure about your own.
But you know what is not easy? Seeing all the work those other people put into their books. Each and every one of them worked as hard as they could to make their writing what it is now. They wrote and rewrote and edited. They queried agents, and they were rejected. When their agent submitted their manuscript to editors, it was rejected. What we see when we read a book is the result of hard work. It is too easy to get caught up in the final project and not think about what went on behind the scenes to make it what we see.
Comparing myself to others is not going to make me any better a writer than I am now. Comparing myself to others will not get me any closer to getting an agent, book deal, movie option, or anything else I want. The only thing comparing myself to others will do is make me feel worse about what I am doing. I need to focus on my own writing, and work as hard as I can to make myself better and to reach my goals.
And I need to follow Maureen Johnson’s advice:
From now on, I am daring to SUCK!
