You’ve been there. Maybe you’re there now. Everything you write is horrible. Terrible. It’s the horrible, terrible, no good, very bad writing (day). Welcome to the club. Stay awhile. While you’re here, you should know something. Everything you write probably doesn’t suck. And even if it does sort of suck, that’s good because…

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Good writing comes from bad writing.

Not only good writing but great writing too. In fact, the absolute best writing on the planet comes (and came) from bad writing.

How so?

Glad you asked.

You know that friend who has lots of really great ideas for a book but hasn’t put any words to paper yet? Maybe they think you should be the one to write it, or the librarian, anyone, but certainly not them. They could never do it.

With that mindset, bad writing hasn’t even occurred yet. They’re still stuck in bad thinking. Bad thinking doesn’t get anyone anywhere and it certainly doesn’t get them to the New York Times (NYT) Bestseller list.

But you’re not ‘that friend’. You took a big, giant leap forward and actually wrote down your thoughts. You took a risk. A chance. A leap of faith.

You allowed yourself to be vulnerable. To be authentic. To be real. To be judged – eek!

Yet now, as you stare at your previously awesome words that are now looking more and more like horrible, terrible words, you’ve come to the conclusion that your writing sucks. You suck. Your life as a hopefully maybe possibly career author dreams are dashed.

But.

They’re not.

It’s the primary purpose of an author to write.

It’s not to sell books, spin ideas, impress friends, or have a hobby. It’s to write.

Writing doesn’t require anyone else’s approval or permission. It doesn’t require a social media platform or marketing strategy. It doesn’t need to be perfect or even “good”. Writing is simply the action of taking your ideas and putting them to paper (or computer for us modern folk).

Once the words are written, then the real work begins. The real work is taking this draft, plot, outline, or even a small collection of ideas and transforming it into something noble. Something epic. Something interesting, educational, or entertaining.

The art of great writing, good writing, or even fine writing comes through the revision process. Editing is where bad writing becomes good writing.

“A person who wrote badly did better than a person who does not write at all. A bad writing can be corrected. An empty page remains an empty page.” – Israelmore Ayivor, How You Can Write Your Dream Book

Your bad writing is far better than someone’s no writing. You now have product that can be improved. You’ve got a vision that can be tweaked.

So, tweak it. Revise it. Edit it. Try saying it differently. Try saying it better. Try saying it with less words and more words.

If you feel like you’ve tried it all and you’re not sure what to do about your bad writing, it’s time to share it. It’s time to bring in a critique partner (CP) or professional editor. These people aren’t as attached to your work as you are. They will see the plot holes. They’ll notice the grammar fixes. They’ll identify passive or active verbs, weak openings, and verbose sentences.

More times than not, a good critique or edit from someone else will reveal a whole new world to you. I’ve always been impressed by my CP’s thoughts on various manuscripts. They see so much I never saw and my once bad writing became more and more good writing. Each piece I write becomes better than the last.

And yet, even after countless words written, I still have my days where I think everything I write sucks. It’s normal. But it couldn’t be further from the truth. Write those thoughts down and let yourself shine through revision.

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What do you do when you feel like your writing isn’t very good? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below and if you haven’t yet, subscribe to the site!

Happy writing!

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