Writers, Put Down the Measuring Stick and Rediscover Your Writing Joy

by Beth Vogt @BethVogt

A writer-friend emailed me to say she’d read my 2018 women’s fiction novel, Things I Never Told You. I was happy to hear she loved it. I also appreciated it when she shared several specific passages she liked. And then she ended the email with, “Oh, Beth, if only I could write like you.”

*Blush*

My response? 

“Don’t worry about writing like me—it’s hard enough for me to do that.” Then I said, “You write like you.”

The comparison trap is a dangerous thing. 

Had my friend truly fallen into the trap of comparison? No. I believe she was offering me a heartfelt compliment. And yet …

Comparison is so sneaky. One minute we’re enjoying another author’s writing. Their way with words. The rhythm and rhyme. The simile and symbolism. 

The next moment we’re caught in the snare of comparison, which can lead to the sharp bite of envy—wishing we had what another writer has. 

• Their talent
• Their opportunities
• Their agent
• Their publisher 
• Their contracts
• Their awards

Comparison undermines our writing relationships. Undermines our creativity. Undermines our productivity because our focus is on them, not us. 

Even worse, our focus is on this, that, and all the other—not God. 

Let me wrap up this blog with a statement: This likely is not the first post you’ve read about the trap of comparison.

Consider this question: What most easily trips you up into comparing yourself with another writer? 

When someone:

1. finals in a contest and you don’t? 

2. lands an agent at their first writers conference—It happens!—and you’re still seeking representation after years and years and years of trying? 

3. gets a TV interview? 

4. is invited to teach a writers workshop?

5. signs a contract . . . again?

We need to know our areas of weakness to better defend against measuring our success compared to another writer’s success. Knowing this helps us keep our guard up for a possible comparison trap. We stay confident in who we are, how God made us, and what He has for us.

TWEETABLE

Writers, Put Down the Measuring Stick and Rediscover Your Writing Joy, insight from @BethVogt on @EdieMelson (Click to Tweet)

Beth K. Vogt believes God’s best often waits behind the doors marked “Never.” She’s authored 14 novels and novellas, both romance and women’s fiction. Beth is a Christy Award winner, an ACFW Carol Award winner, and a  RITA® finalist. Her novel Things I Never Told You, book one in her Thatcher Sisters Series by Tyndale House Publishers, won the 2109 AWSA Golden Scroll Award for Contemporary Novel of the Year. An established magazine writer and former editor of the leadership magazine for MOPS International, Beth blogs for Learn How to Write a Novel and The Write Conversation and also enjoys speaking to writers group and mentoring other writers. She lives in Colorado with her husband Rob, who has adjusted to discussing the lives of imaginary people. Connect with Beth at bethvogt.com.