elumish:

You’re allowed to like your writing.

One unfortunate side effect of the “your first draft is shit” rhetoric (which is mostly meant to encourage the understanding that you will need to edit and that having problems in your first draft doesn’t mean you can’t write) is that people tend to feel like they shouldn’t like their writing. They should only be critical of it, only see the flaws of it, and so be unhappy with their writing.

Being critical is good, but keep in mind that you’re not only allowed but encouraged to like what you’ve written. You should like it because that means it’s something people enjoy reading (because you are a person), but also because you will write better if you enjoy what you’re writing. Reread your old writing and smile at the lines that you love. Enjoy your fun scenes, laugh at your own jokes, cry at the tragedies you’ve written particularly poignantly. It’ll make you feel better. I promise.

a few weeks ago, i re-read one of my fic and i was surprised to see how much i loved it?

like sure at some points i was cringing a bit bc of bad wording, etc… but i actually laughed pretty hard at my own jokes? and “awwwwww”-ed at the cute scenes? and gasped at the plot twist, even though i know perfectly well it was coming?

enjoy your own work, kids. love it. be proud of it.