I don't think being competitive helps much with writing. This isn't the NBA finals where the "best" is reflected on the scoreboard. It's more subjective than that. My best version of writing may be different from your best, and both are valid.
That said, you can want your writing to be the best it possibly can, and you can draw inspo from people around you – including other writers or other artists. Right now I'm really inspired by BRAT and how Charli depicts girlhood. It has me thinking if I could do something with boyhood, what that would look like, could it feel as honest and urgent, etc. But I don't see myself as competing with that album. That's a waste of my mental resources.
You mentioned a lot of the same ideas are floating around out there. Sure. But can you express them in a way that's specific to you? In a way that feels fresh? Can you take a tired emotion like love and make it feel brand new? That's the challenge. That's what makes it interesting.
Just try to make the best possible version of what you want to make, don't worry too much about "the competition" because that's a great way to make yourself miserable. Comparison is the thief of joy.
Jun 23, 2024
Related Recs
⭐
I think a big hurdle with creative stuff (especially in the age of social media) is the pressure to constantly create something great and to post about it. It's healthy to acknowledge that just because you're making something doesn't mean you need to commodify it or even share it publicly at all. When I was in the early stages of things, I really wasn't ready to open it up to judgement or critique. I think that would have dissuaded me from it entirely. Even accomplished artists that have made a living off of their work still have to make "bad" pieces from time to time, and it's ok to take time to find your voice and what you enjoy making. Critique groups are a valuable thing and often very positive, but if you need to incubate your ideas within your close circles for a while, do that! Also, I'm recovering from a migraine, so I don't know if any of this is coherent ✌️
Feb 15, 2024
✏️
at least for me, writer's block occurs when i feel like i've exhausted thoughts, ideas, motifs, etc. that used to fuel creative output previously – but changing your perspective (either by changing your influences, or your environment, etc.) will put more gas in your tank to write new, exciting things, and to experiment with how you write about those things
in the artist's way, julia cameron mentions how a core tenant of the program is "artist dates" where you go out on a solo excursion to give yourself more creative "input" like novel life experiences, new perspectives on familiar experiences, etc. that can then funnel into creative output
i think a similar effort is just reading more; for example, i like sci-fi as a consumer, but when i was reading parable of the sower by octavia butler for a book club, i was so inspired by it that previous projects in that genre i had parked because they felt uninspired became exciting to work on again. new sci-fi projects came to me and gave me some runway to outline / draft them. same for fantasy, non-fiction, etc
the more you're inspired (either by your experiences or your influences) the easier it will be to write more, because exploration will often take less effort than refinement. both are essential parts of the process, but if you're exclusively refining based on a body of work limited in scope, it's going to take more time / be more agonizing / feel less worth it; if you can expand that scope, there'll always be something to say on the page
Feb 10, 2025
🏃
setting a timer for ~20 minutes and just writing without stopping until the timer goes off is *really* good - because at the end of it you have a draft you can revise, which i think is easier and feels a lot more like making progress than emotionally preparing to write something you might not like.
dan harmon has this quote that i think was really helpful to getting me to see the value of just getting the reps in (without all the self-loathing):
*“My best advice about writer’s block is: the reason you’re having a hard time writing is because of a conflict between the GOAL of writing well and the FEAR of writing badly. By default, our instinct is to conquer the fear, but our feelings are much, much, less within our control than the goals we set, and since it’s the conflict BETWEEN the two forces blocking you, if you simply change your goal from “writing well” to “writing badly,” you will be a veritable fucking fountain of material…Prove it. It will go faster. And then, after you write something incredibly shitty in about six hours, it’s no problem making it better in passes, because in addition to being absolutely untalented, you are also a mean, petty CRITIC. You know how you suck and you know how everything sucks and when you see something that sucks, you know exactly how to fix it.”*
Mar 22, 2024
Top Recs from @ethansawyer
📎
a brief moment of comfort in this cold corporate existence
Mar 7, 2025
🚗
What happens behind the wheel is, frankly, none of my business. I'd rather spend my time picking songs/sipping coffee/taking in the scene.
Driving is so pedestrian.
Mar 21, 2024
🏆
I just need to apply myself
Mar 3, 2025