Benjamin Franklin was said to say that he did not fail 1000 times. He just found 1000 ways to not make a light bulb. (Or something to that affect).
Failure is a necessary part of learning, or shaping your craft.
Let's do an exercise... Take a moment to think back about all the good things people have said about your writing. Of all the praise you have received. Of all the things you just instinctively do right.
Keep thinking.
Yep, you should still be thinking.
Give it one more minute.
Okay - how much did your writing improve from that praise? I am betting not a whole lot - because if you do it right there is no need to fix it.
Now I am not saying praise is bad. Praise is good! Getting positive feedback about our writing gives us a boost - makes us want to move forward. Energizes us and gives us the drive to keep working toward our dreams.
So it is good. But we don't learn from it.
We learn from being told what we did wrong and working to correct it. Developing our skills as a writer to fill in the gaps and make up for our weaknesses.
So, my encouraging thought is this:
Failure is necessary. So every time you fail - celebrate. Then get back to work!
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