How Do I Know If My Writing Is Good?
Summary
- Self-doubt is common in writing because it's about more than skill — it's about connection and clarity.
- Understanding your writing voice requires reflection on style, tone, and intent.
- Tools like I Write Like can help reveal patterns and tendencies you might not notice on your own.
It’s a question that returns persistently, even on our best writing days. You reread a paragraph that once felt alive and wonder if it’s clumsy. You finish a story and instead of feeling proud, you hesitate. And when no one is around to read it or offer feedback, the question becomes inescapable: is this good? Or am I fooling myself?
The truth is, every writer – no matter how experienced – asks this. Because writing isn’t just about technique, it’s about connection. You want to know if your words land, if they carry the meaning you intended. But you also want to know who you are as a writer – what kind of voice you’ve developed, and how it might be evolving.
That’s where a tool like I Write Like can help. I Write Like is not here to judge your writing; it’s here to reflect it back to you. Like a compass, it shows you where your style is pointing. By analyzing your vocabulary, rhythm, structure, and tone, it compares your work to that of established authors. It helps you recognize patterns in your writing you might not see yourself.
Maybe you find out you write like Margaret Atwood or Stephen King. That’s interesting, but it’s also illuminating. You can start to understand your natural tendencies, your stylistic leanings, and whether they match your intention.
I Write Like also includes powerful features to help you see your writing from new angles. The “Highlight” tool visually marks parts of speech – such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, and more – so you can quickly spot patterns, repetition, or gaps in your language. With “Sentence Rank,” you get an at-a-glance view of which sentences stand out for complexity or uniqueness, helping you identify both your strongest lines and areas that might need revision. The “Keywords” feature extracts the most significant words from your text, giving you insight into your core themes and focus. Together, these tools offer a deeper, more objective look at your writing, making it easier to refine your style and strengthen your voice. When you’re lost in the fog of self-doubt, I Write Like doesn’t hand you all the answers – but it helps you keep going, helps you navigate.
It doesn’t try to replace feedback, and it doesn’t hand out praise. What it offers is orientation. When you’re unsure, when self-doubt fogs the way forward, it’s something solid to lean on. A quiet guide that helps you recalibrate and keep moving.
Good writing isn’t always loud or perfect; sometimes it’s simply honest and alive. If you’re searching for a sign, for a bit of direction, let I Write Like guide you for a while. There’s something waiting to be discovered in your voice – and it’s worth following.