The Writer’s Guide to Agony and Defeat

43 of the Worst Moments in the Writing Life and How to Get Over Them

The Agonies of Sharing Work in Progress

16. You refuse to let your work out of your sight

You finished your book! You have read it so many times you feel like you could recite it out loud from memory. You have this niggling little voice inside you that says, “This is the best damn thing anyone has ever created. It’s going to rock the world!” You naturally want to test your theory, and you start thinking of people you can send it to who will be straightforward and generous in their assessment of your work. You can’t think of anyone who meets the qualifications. People can be so mean! And so ruthless! You don’t think you can bear mean and ruthless, so you decide to keep revising. You go back to page one, and fiddle around with some commas and sentences, and then you go to page two. You do this in an endless cycle for years, until one day you stop, and your book just sits there, unseen by anyone’s eyes but your own.

The way forward:

Remember that, unless your goal is simply self-expression, the point of writing is to be read. Send the book out and don’t take the feedback personally. It may be your heart and soul on the page, but to everyone else, it’s just words that may or may not have any meaning or resonance. Listen to what they’re saying, and decide whether or not to do anything about it. You are the god of your own story.

“I went for years not finishing anything. Because, of course, when you finish something you can be judged… I had poems which were re-written so many times I suspect it was just a way of avoiding sending them out.”

― Erica Jong

Stay tuned on Medium for all 43 of the worst moments. If you can’t wait to read all 43, check out The Writer’s Guide to Agony and Defeat.

There are cool contests and giveaways there, too.Jennie Nash is a writer and book coach who offers her tough love approach to the writing life in a weekly blog atjennienash.com. Follow her on Twitter @JennieNash. Medium readers can try out her Author Accelerator accountability and feedback program for free.