Being a writer isn’t an easy profession. From the endless hours we spend slaving over our books, to the constant pressures of marketing, to dealing with the constant criticisms whenever we’re simply writing what we like; it’s a profession that’s certainly not for the faint of heart. Of course, there are a few writers who didn’t have to go through the pains of writing. However, these writers are outliers, and if statistics have taught me anything, these outliers are few and far in-between. 

Even so, we’re prone to the same weaknesses. After all, some, if not all of us go through this, and I’m happy to admit that I’ve had a few of them. As such, below are the most weaknesses that we’ve been guilty of. 

Being Too Impatient

There are times when we get too caught up with ourselves. We suddenly get impatient, wanting to submit our works even though some part of us knows that they aren’t quite ready yet. And when we do submit, this can result in a lot of disappointing results, from many rejections, to the damaging self-esteem issues we have because of this. 

One way we can combat this is to simply just walk away from our work for a day. We take a break, and then come back, just to make sure that our stories are ready.

Being Too Arrogant

Book reviewers, beta readers, editors, proofreaders, and every other profession that deals with reading requires criticism of other books. Whether it be us criticizing them, or the other way around, there comes a point where some writers are too arrogant to accept another’s suggestions. Even when a publisher asks for us to resubmit our manuscripts again, we simply ignore them and move on to another publisher that we feel might recognize our greatness. 

To remedy this, we can, again, take a break, and then return. We have to be mature if we want to get better at writing, and though it can be hard to change a few concepts, in the end, it’s to help us become better writers. If we can’t accept constructive criticism, we can’t become better writers. And in doing so, we might not ever get published. 

Being Too Unrealistic 

Remember those outliers that I’ve mentioned? Yes, many writers, myself included, want to be one of those outliers. We want to get that publishing deal. We want to get those millions of fans overnight, get those publishing deals and the like. Despite this, writing is still a cruel profession. It takes a lot of persistence to get a publishing deal, to even get an agent to look at our manuscripts, no matter how many times we reread our query letters. For an added note, I was accepted into medical school. And I can tell you right now that writing can be tougher than becoming a doctor. 

Again, writing isn’t for the faint of heart. It takes a lot of perseverance to make it through and, despite all our attempts to be successful, we have to make sure that we can handle it. Sometimes, there will be financial hardships, while other times, we confine ourselves to just one point of view, so much so that we drive ourselves into a corner. Just make sure that we relax and remember that these experiences only make us stronger in the process.