By this point I’ve probably said it before and even if I haven’t, in your quest to become better writers I’m sure you’ve seen it. The phrase “give yourself permission to write poorly” goes hand in hand with the only rule being a writer really has: write every day.

When you commit to writing every single day, in rain or snow, through sickness, health and a houseful of family; you’ll probably also run straight in to the wall o’ block that’s your own feelings of inadequacy. If you write every day, some of it’s bound to be bad. You don’t want to put that stuff down on paper. But when you commit to writing every single day, there will be days when nothing that comes out is any good at all.

That’s where you give yourself permission to write badly. On those days it’s far more important to not give into the block than the quality of the blood you squeeze out of the orange. Writers block is for the hobbyist, for the rest of us there’s just slightly less good days than others.

But here’s the thing, permission to write badly doesn’t mean you have permission to publish badly. When it’s all said and done and you’ve seasoned the story properly before looking at it again, if it’s still looks like trash written on your very worst day – revise and rewrite until it shines brighter than the sun or toss it. Do not publish it.

Giving yourself permission to write badly so you can get through every day putting words on the page is one thing, publishing poor writing is a whole ‘nother animal. An animal that should be hunted to extinction.