The comparison trap (and how to escape it)
Week 2 support for Novel November writers.
You’re doing amazing.
I need to say that first, before we get into anything else. It’s week two of Novel November and you’re still here. Still writing. Still showing up. I’m so proud of you.
Some of you are ahead of your word count goals. Some are behind. Some are exactly on track. And while I haven’t been seeing this here on Substack, I have been seeing this in other places with writers doing NovNov: folks comparing themselves to each other.
Saying things like: “I only wrote 800 words today and I’m seeing folks talking about how they wrote 3,000 in one sitting.” “Everyone else seems to know where their story is going. I’m still trying to figure it out.” “I feel behind and we’re already in week two.”
So let’s talk about the comparison trap - why it hits different in fast drafting challenges, what it costs you energetically and how to stay in your own creative lane.
Cuz the only person you need to keep pace with is your protag waiting for you to tell their story.
Why Comparison Hits Different in Fast Drafting
Novel November is designed around visible metrics. Daily word counts. Progress bars. Achievement badges. Public accountability. The structure itself invites comparison.
And social media amplifies it. You see screenshots of 5,000-word days. You watch people celebrate hitting 25,000 words when you’re at 12,000. You read posts from writers who “just wrote for two hours and finished three chapters” while you’re still wrestling with one scene.
The comparison isn’t happening in your imagination. So don’t let people try and make you sound crazy. It’s happening in real time, all day, every day, right in your feed. Right in your face.
But take a step back for a minute and look at this from another perspective. Here’s what you’re actually comparing: their OUTPUT to your EXPERIENCE.
You see their word count. You don’t see the three hours they spent staring at the screen before those words came. You don’t see the scenes they’ll have to completely rewrite because they were forcing momentum. You don’t see their exhaustion or their doubt or the moments they wanted to quit.
You’re comparing their highlight reel to your behind-the-scenes struggle. And that comparison is destroying your creative fire.
The Energetic Cost of Comparison
Every time you check someone else’s word count, you’re pulling energy away from your own work.
Every time you measure your progress against theirs, you’re asking your nervous system to process threat signals. To your body, “falling behind” in a challenge feels like danger. Your system responds with anxiety, with stress hormones, with the urge to either push harder or give up completely.
Neither response serves you or your story.
When you’re anxious about pace, you write worse. Your sentences get tight — and not in a way that would make a line editor like me sing your praises. Your creativity contracts. You second-guess every choice because you’re not connected to your own intuition anymore, and instead, you’re trying to write at someone else’s speed, in someone else’s way.
This is a Fire element problem. You’re letting someone else’s flame affect your own burn rate.
Some writers are hot burners. They blaze intensely for long sessions, then need significant recovery time. They might write 5,000 words in one day, then only 500 the next two days while they process what they created.
Other writers are steady burners. They maintain consistent daily output without the dramatic highs and lows. They write 1,500 words a day, every day, and that rhythm sustains them.
Neither approach is superior. Both can complete 50,000 words in 30 days. But if you’re a steady burner comparing yourself to a hot burner’s peak day, you’ll feel inadequate. And if you’re a hot burner trying to force yourself into steady daily output, you’ll burn out.
Your Fire element has its own natural rhythm. Comparison disrupts that rhythm and makes you question what’s actually working.
Staying in Your Creative Lane
Here’s how to escape the comparison trap and return to your own work:
Track your own progress, not theirs.
Stop checking other people’s word counts. Seriously. Unfollow the accounts that post daily screenshots. Mute the hashtags that flood your feed with everyone’s numbers. You don’t need that information and it’s not helping you write.
Instead, track YOUR progress. Notice that you’re further along today than you were yesterday. Celebrate that you wrote 800 words when last week you would have written nothing. Pay attention to your own trajectory, not theirs.
Celebrate what YOU accomplished today.
Did you figure out a plot hole? Celebrate that. Did you write a dialogue exchange that felt real? Celebrate that. Did you show up and write even though you were tired? Celebrate that.
Not every victory is measured in word count. Some days, writing 200 good words is more valuable than forcing 2,000 bad ones. Some days, solving a structural problem is worth more than adding new scenes. Some days, just sitting down and trying is the win.
Sidebar: Seeing everyone’s word count is cool and all, but I’m enjoying seeing your REFLECTIONS day to day even more. Yes, seeing your struggles and achievements allows me to support you in a very practical way. But it’s also giving me wonderful fodder for my upcoming workshop once NovNov is over.
Your creative work has value beyond the numbers. Don’t let comparison blind you to what you’re actually accomplishing.
Notice when you’re about to check someone else’s progress — and don’t.
This is a practice. You’ll feel the urge to look, to check, to compare. Notice that urge. Name it: “I’m about to pull my energy away from my work and direct it toward measuring myself against someone else.”
Then make a different choice. Open your manuscript or your journal instead. Write one sentence. Stay in your own lane.
Every time you resist the comparison urge, you’re building the muscle of trusting your own process. It gets easier with practice.
Your competition is yesterday’s version of you.
That’s it. That’s the only comparison that matters.
Are you further along than you were yesterday? Yes? Then you’re succeeding.
Did you learn something about your story today that you didn’t know yesterday? Yes? Then you’re growing.
Are you still showing up, still writing, still committed to finishing? Yes? Then you’re exactly where you need to be.
Everyone else’s pace is irrelevant to your creative journey. They’re writing their story. You’re writing yours. These are not comparable tasks. Period.
Mercury Retrograde is Upon Us
Speaking of things that aren’t comparable: Mercury retrograde starts today and we’ll be in it for the rest of Novel November. And it’s in Sagittarius. Which means communication will be messy, tech issues will multiply and everyone’s going to be more blunt than usual.
You know what that means for comparison? Everyone’s about to get real LOUD. The complaints will be more dramatic. The celebrations will be more intense. The word count posts will be more frequent because people are trying to prove they’re still on track despite the chaos.
Don’t let Mercury retrograde noise pull you into comparison spirals. Mercury is a trickster. He will play in your face all day if you let him. This is the time to go INWARD with your work, not outward toward what everyone else is doing.
Your story doesn’t give a shit about Mercury retrograde. Your protag is unbothered by everyone else’s word count. Your creative fire doesn’t need external validation to burn.
Stay in your lane. Trust your pace. Keep writing.
Self-Care: Protecting Your Creative Energy
Comparison isn’t just a mindset problem. It’s an energy management problem. Here’s how to protect your Fire element from comparison drain:
Limit social media time.
Set actual timers. Give yourself 15 minutes to check in with the Novel November community, then log off. Don’t scroll endlessly through everyone’s updates. Get in, offer support if you want, get out, return to your work.
Your writing time is sacred. Social media is not.
Unfollow or mute accounts that trigger comparison.
You don’t have to hate them. You don’t have to think they’re doing anything wrong (because they aren’t). But if seeing their posts makes you feel inadequate, anxious or “behind,” that’s information. Honor it by removing the trigger.
You can follow them again after November. Right now, protect your energy.
Create a personal celebration practice.
Every day, when you finish writing, do something small that marks the accomplishment. Dance to a song. Make a cup of tea. Text a friend “I wrote today.” Put a star on your calendar. Email or tag me in a note so I can hype you up.
Build a celebration ritual that belongs to YOU, that has nothing to do with anyone else’s metrics or approval. Your wins deserve acknowledgment even when they’re small or quiet or not impressive by comparison standards.
Talk to your body: “We’re doing this at OUR pace and that’s sacred.”
Literally say this out loud. Your nervous system needs to hear that your pace is not simply acceptable — it’s sacred. Your rhythm is not simply valid — it’s necessary.
When anxiety about “falling behind” starts creeping in, return to your body. Hand on heart. Three deep breaths. “We’re doing this at our pace and that’s sacred.”
One grounding practice: Touch something real.
When comparison pulls you out of your creative flow and into anxiety, touch something physical. The ground under your feet. The desk under your hands. Your own heartbeat.
Comparison lives in your head, in abstract numbers and imagined judgments. Your story lives in your body, in the actual experience of creating. Return to the body. Return to the real.
The Truth About Pace
I’m an editor, and I’ve been supporting writers through challenges like this a long time. Here’s the truth: some people will finish Novel November and you might not. Some people will hit 50,000 words and you might fall short. Here’s another truth: nobody gives a shit.
None of that means anything about your worth as a writer or the value of your story.
Novel November is one challenge with arbitrary metrics. Fifty thousand words in 30 days is ambitious, but it’s not the definition of writing success. It’s not a rite of passage. It’s not a requirement for being a “real” writer.
It’s one approach to drafting. And it works beautifully for some writers while feeling torturous for others.
If you finish, celebrate that accomplishment. If you don’t, celebrate what you DID create. X-number of words that didn’t exist before. A clearer understanding of your story. Proof that you can show up even when it’s hard.
The comparison trap wants you to believe that finishing “counts” and not finishing “doesn’t.” That’s bullshit. I said what I said, and it’s not up for debate.
What counts is that you’re writing. What counts is that you’re growing. What counts is that you’re creating something that matters to you.
Their pace isn’t your pace. Their story isn’t your story. Their creative journey has nothing to do with yours.
Stay in your lane. Trust your fire. Keep burning at YOUR speed.
What’s Coming: Week 3
Next Sunday, I’ll publish support for the hardest week: When You Want to Quit (But You’re Not Done Yet).
Week three is when the initial excitement is gone, the finish line isn’t close enough to be motivating and you’re just tired. Week three breaks more people than any other week of this challenge.
I’ll share how to tell the difference between “I’m tired and need rest” and “I’m done with this story.” How to assess whether to push through or pivot. What your body’s actually telling you when you want to abandon your draft.
Until then: write at your pace. Celebrate your wins. Stay in your lane.
You’re doing this. And you’re doing it exactly right. Proud of you.
What’s your natural Fire rhythm - hot burner or steady burner? Have you noticed comparison affecting your creative energy this week? Share in the comments.
I’m not participating in Novel November but this piece was on point and feel like it applies to many areas outside of writing too.
And I find that I burn through writing fast especially as it’s largely channeled and then I need recovery time from the output.