I’ve been thinking a lot about reading lately, so this post is a sort of continuation of Wednesday’s post “Reading as a Writer,” except I think it’s a little more interesting…Enjoy!
Most of us hate reading our old writing, but there’s something to be said about studying it and realizing where you’ve grown. Honestly, I enjoy reading things I wrote years ago. Of course there are some stories that are horrifically bad, that I want to burn and pretend never existed – we all have those. But there are some that are surprisingly good, and in this post we’ll be discussing the merits of reading both.
First: the bad. You’re probably wondering why I’m telling you to dig up those notebooks you carried around with you in middle school – they usually include stories with characters named after your friends or that guy you had a crush on. Or if you’re older, things you wrote in college, or five or ten years ago. Anything that you’re distanced enough from to read objectively.
Reading these stories is an exercise in boosting your self-esteem. We’re reading our own work to see just how much we’ve grown in the time that has passed, how all of our hard work has paid off. Take pride in it. Reading these stories is an exercise in boosting your self-esteem.
And if you’ve picked out something you’re surprised to find is actually good, take pride in that as well. Of course, you’ll probably find some flaws (a cheesy line of dialogue or a character who could be better fleshed out), but you should feel good that you wrote something that still stands up to the test years later. I hope that this is also a self-esteem booster. Just think – if you wrote that ten years ago, what can you write now, after ten more years of practice?
This may seem dramatic or cheesy, but remember that I’m a big believer in the idea that you are your biggest fan. Most of the time, you’re the only one who can motivate yourself to write, and to write better, on a daily basis. And taking pride in your work is not thinking that you’re the best writer in the world, or that you have no flaws. It’s knowing yourself; your strengths and your weaknesses, and being proud of what you’ve accomplished anyway.