Writers, a warning: There will be times in your career when hearing, "You're a great writer!" will make you feel like shit because you'll wonder why you're not seeing more success. 1/

This most frequently happens when well-meaning non-writer friends say, "You're a great writer, you're sure to (take your pick) get an agent/ get a book deal/ become a bestseller/ win awards/ have your book turned into a movie. 2/

These supportive friends are accustomed to industries that are meritocracies. In other words, not publishing.

Do great writers rise to the top? Yes. Are there plenty of great writers that do not? Also yes. 3/

I've been in writing groups and classes where the person who was lauded as being the best writer stopped writing when they hit major publishing setbacks. Possibly because they believed their talent would take them further. 4/

Writers who didn't have their natural talent put on a pedestal were sometimes better able to weather the inevitable publishing storms, because they weren't under the belief that being a naturally great writer was how they would succeed. 5/

And when you don't feel like you're seeing success? Being told you're a great writer can send you down a spiral of, "But then why..."

RESIST THIS! Remember that you have a very important piece of the puzzle. But there are many other pieces. (Like luck. Luck is piece too.) 6/

So when you get the "You're a great writer, you're going to [achieve X]!" and for some reason, that does not make you feel good AT ALL, remember to accept and treasure the first part, but smile and discard the second part before it corrodes you with unneeded expectations. /end