Should Perfect Be Your Writing Goal?

I have been giving a lot of thought to my own writing and the journey I have taken thus far. Let me tell you, looking back, my preconceptions about being an author were WAY off. As an amateur I truly had no idea what I needed to do or what to expect.

That being the case, I’ve decided to write a series of articles talking about the various stages of my writing journey and the misconceptions I had.

At this very moment, I think the series of articles will look something like this:

  • Being a (Perfect) Writer
    • I had lots of questions when I began. How do I write a story? What is it about the craft that I need to master before I ever submit a story? What genre should I write? How do I submit a story?
  • Writing (Perfect) Beginnings
  • Plotting and Writing a (Perfect) Novel
  • (Perfect) Selling your Story
  • (Perfect) Marketing Techniques

Geez, just writing the titles for the list of articles has made me tired of the word ‘Perfect’.

Watch for the first article this Wednesday.

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3 comments

  1. Perfection is an ideal. It might be something to reach for; but from a practical standpoint it is unobtainable. What is the difference between Physics and Math? Physics has to include a “degree of accuracy”.

    We often label the “close enough to perfect” as “perfect” and that’s fine by me. But the law of diminishing returns indicate that as we try to get closer and closer to actually perfection, it takes more and more effort (and that doesn’t even take into account effort that might be counter-productive).

    We need to acknowledge our limitations and do as well as we practically can. “Good enough” really is “good enough”, but it is a healthy growth towards perfection that redefines what is “good enough” for us at any moment. Grow, reach, be inspired, do awesome things; but don’t let some unrealistic expectation of perfection keep us from being productive.

    Build your skills. Be perfect enough to be awesome. Be practical enough to be able to do as much awesome as you can.

    Misc perfection quotes – http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/perfection.html

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