Writing.Com General Discussion

This is good to hear, William, and congratulations on finally 'getting somewhere'.

One of the hardest things a new writer has to contend with is the fear that they are just not good enough. The fact is, they never will be until they write something and start learning. The only time fear should ever come into it is when you send stories to magazines or agents, but even then, it should be the fear of rejection rather than terror. I would even argue that rejection is simply another way of learning you haven't quite made the grade yet, not that you'll never make it.

There is an art to writing, but there is also craft. Part of the craft is writing something, then looking at it and seeing what's wrong with it. You can't fix something if you don't know it's broken, and you'll never know it's broken if you don't write it in the first place. The first draft is all about making something that can worked on.

The good folks on this site will teach you how to spot issues in your writing, and how you can go about fixing them. We're all at different places in our journey as a writer, and we all began where you are now. Take heart, one day it'll be you offering advice, I promise you.