Melissa Barker-Simpson

Learning curve

Life is one big learning curve. We never stop adapting, gaining knowledge or developing the way we do things. We accept that, and yet, we can’t help but cringe when we look back at our earlier work and catalogue all the mistakes we made.

Like an actor who can’t watch themselves on the big screen, writers are often wary about reading their own work because they will always find something to change. It’s one of the hardest things about letting a project go. At some point, you need to draw a line and deem the work ready. Then, when you look back, you need to somehow view the words through a different lens, one that doesn’t dwell on the everything you did wrong, but instead on the things you did right.

Easier said than done. We are, after all, our own worst critics. Then again, there are the times we look back at a body of work and realise it doesn’t suck. Perhaps we should hold on to those moments because, contrary to what some people believe, writers don’t have over-inflated egos.

We understand the importance of words, the power they hold, and besides wanting to connect with people through storytelling, we want to do justice to those stories and honour the characters we create.

Thanks for stopping by

Mel