Stupid crippling self-doubt!

My confidence in my writing has flat-lined. Time of death: every time I reread.

I love writing, and have loved it almost before I could scrawl my name with a crayon. Some of the most amazing moments of my life are when the words spill out of me onto the page.

But sometimes I dissect and prod sentences, thinking of how inadequate they are until I'm almost sick to my stomach. It makes me not want to write anymore. Does anyone else have this problem? If so, how do I kill the evil monster of Self Doubt? It seems I have enough confidence to conquer the world, in everything but this.

Well, I guess the easy answer would be to just stop rereading. If you haven't finished your first draft, don't start trying to edit until you do. Once you've finished your first draft, let it sit for a month or two and don't look at it at all. Then when you come back to start to edit it, you'll be looking at it with fresh eyes.
Already finished your first draft? Don't look at for the next one or two months. Work on other things, focus on school, read fifty books, whatever you want just don't read your story. When your one/two months are over, open it up again and look at it with fresh eyes.
Still dissecting and prodding at your sentences? Maybe have someone else look over it. Give it to a trusted friend or teacher to read through it and have them help restore your confidence.
PM me if you have any questions. Hope I helped!

-Carly

I know exactly how you feel. The way I look at it is - so what if I'm crap now? I'll just write for fun, get it all down whilst I still have my youth. That's the beauty of being a young writer, we are not under any pressure.
So just write and enjoy it. When you want to start getting published then follow tnme22's advice because I agree with it.

Good luck x

You know, I am not sure if I fully agree with tmne's opinion with how you should just stop reading back on what you have written. That may not actually help at all if you are like me, and read back on it, once you are done, and hate it. My suggestion is try to get a more positive spin on it. You may see the things that you hate about it, the abundant of things that make you cringe, but look deeper and you will see the things that make you a true writer. The determination of actually wanting to write, and how you have increased in skill over time.

Don't doubt yourself because the sky is the limit. Writing is anything you want it to be. If you look back and think your plot has too many holes in it, I suggest going back and fixing them, or think of a way to fix them while still writing, but also look at the pure creativeness and imagination that you put forth to put that into existence. It is a brilliant thing the mind, after all no one in the world thinks the exact same, and no one in the world will ever write the exact same idea as you unless the copied it. But nobody lies those kind of people. xD

Doubt get yourself down about things. You will always be a brilliant writer as long as you write. Don't compare it to others work, and write for the sake of the enjoyment and fulfillment you will feel once you finish it. The hardest critique is yourself, and that is the biggest thing that people have to learn. Also, you have to think, have the plot holes you make pick up will never be picked up any of the other people reading it. The drive for perfection is always there, but you just have to put it behind you.

If you get really distraught over a piece you started, just restart it, and you may be amazed at the outcome of it. Don't give up, and look at the bright side of things, not just the bad, because otherwise there is no way that you will actually be able to progress as a writer. You can't step forward while facing behind you.
~Incognito

You will always have self-doubt. It can actually be useful because it pushes you to polish your pieces and means you're better able to take constructive criticism.

The only time it's really not useful is during your first draft. Ignore the inner critics until you've finished the first draft. Just finish, because you can't edit nothing. Then put your piece away, leave it to stew for a week or a month or half a year or whatever, start new things, play around, then go back to the first piece with your critics- use your doubt to make yourself better, but don't let it stop you from writing, because you're a writer, and that's what you're good at, what you do.

I had this problem so completely...
You know how I got over it? I posted on this site.
The same holds true for my friend, Andrea. We both felt like we wrote nothing but rotten rhubarb.
Now we feel like writers.
Oh, and I love the mentality of "We are writers! We are young! We are young writers and the world is at our feet!"
Ah, but we grow older so much faster.
But I'm a cynic.
What you should do: print out your story and show it to an honest (stress, honest) friend. No matter what they say, the act of showing it to someone else will make you feel happier, more confident.
And then fix everything they mention and post it here.