Common Writing Myths (and how to debunk them)

I’ve been hearing a lot of writing myths that are both false and that come at the expense of a writer’s progress. I myself have in the past believed in some of these myths. So I know how negatively they affect the writing process.

In this article, I will highlight a few common writing myths that are actually hindering writers from writing. By realizing that the following statements are false, you as a writer will be able to get in the right mindset to write, and to write effectively.

So without further ado, here are the most common writing myths and how you can debunk them to become a better writer.

I don’t have time to write

Do you have time to go out with friends? Do you have time to take a nap? Do you have time to watch Netflix or TV? Do you have time to go on social media? Do you have time to online shop?

Then you have time to write.

If you tell yourself you don’t have time to write, you should sacrifice doing the things that aren’t necessary to your survival (and the survival of your loved ones- like eating, making money and staying healthy), and write instead. If you really want to be a writer, you will work for it. And since you should enjoy writing, so it shouldn’t be too great of a sacrifice.

Would you rather spend an extra hour sleeping every day, or would you like to be able to call yourself a published author in less than a year?

Even if it’s less than an hour every day, set aside some time every day to write. If your life depended on it, would you be able to find half an hour in your day to write? I thought so. Now make your life depend on it.

To hold yourself accountable, set a minimum word count that you absolutely must reach every day. Don’t set it too high; you can always go above it, but never below. It can be as low as 100 words a day. Just make sure you writer every day, and before you know it, you’ll have yourself a completed first draft of your book.

If you need more tips on how to force yourself to sit down and get some writing done, read this article.

I have writer’s block

Writer’s block doesn’t exist.

I had a Creative Writing professor in college tell me this once, and it changed the way I wrote. When I first heard it, I scoffed at the statement, but I quickly ended up realizing that it’s true. Writer’s block is one of the most harmful writing myths.

While there definitely are times when inspiration causes an explosion of ideas in our minds and writing seems to effortlessly flow from the brain to the page, we can’t just sit around waiting for that moment to write.

It’s so easy to hit an inspiration rut and to say, “I have writer’s block, so I can’t write right now.” But that’s not writer’s block. That’s just being lazy.

Being a writer means you have to work to get the inspiration and motivation you need to continue writing every day. Some days it may be easier than others, but you shouldn’t stop writing just because it stopped being easy.

There’s so many different ways that you can get writing inspiration, and it doesn’t have to be a burdensome process. Here’s a list of things I like to do to get writing inspiration, and I hope it helps you create your own list. Use it whenever you feel like you have “writer’s block.”

And stop using that term as an excuse to be lazy and not write.

It’s too hard to get published, so there’s no point in finishing this book

The only way to guarantee your book won’t be published is to never finish it. Don’t worry about how hard it is to publish a book until you finish the first draft. If you do worry about it, you’ll lose motivation to finish your story.

Your end goal of writing a book shouldn’t be to get it published. It should be to finish the book. I used to hate hearing this, because of course I want to publish a book if I put in that much time and effort to finish writing it.

But I realized that if I’m worrying about all the work that comes after finishing that first draft in terms of getting it ready to be published, it’s harder to stay motivated to continue writing.

Writing is about the journey, not the destination. If you genuinely enjoy the process of writing a book, and stop worrying about getting it out into the world or how much money it will make you, then it actually becomes a much easier process. Don’t stress yourself out too much. Because if you do, you won’t enjoy writing and you will be less likely to finish writing your book.

Once you finish writing the first draft, only then can you start worrying about the rest. But then you will do it with the knowledge that you already succeeded in the impressive feat of finishing an entire book. That will give you the motivation to keep moving forward.

My writing is perfect

Nope. No writing is perfect. You will die trying to perfect your art of writing- all the greatest writers did. You can always get better, and you should always strive to better your writing, but it will be absolutely perfect. We’re only human, after all, so true perfection is unattainable.

But I don’t say this to discourage you from writing. On the contrary, this should excite you! You will never finish your writing journey. Like I already said, being a writer shouldn’t be about getting published (the destination), it should be about the actual process of writing (the journey). And if it’s true that you can always better your writing, your writing journey will go on for the rest of your life.

Of course, at some point you will have to call it quits and submit your writing for publication. But you should never stop practicing to get better at writing. Practice every day and don’t ever tell yourself your writing is perfect- you can always do better!