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| Anne Lamott |
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| "It doesn't have to be perfect..." |
In her wonderful book on writing she shows us that perfectionism is detrimental, because when striving for it in our manuscripts, we try not to leave too much of a mess to clean up. But she points out that the clutter we leave behind can hide precious treasures that we'll discover later. And those treasures can be put to good use by providing more material to work with once we go back to revise and edit.
Being too tidy, according to Ms. Lamott, suggests that something is as good as it's going to get. In a previous post here, not looking back when writing a manuscript was discussed.
The important thing is to finish. Plow ahead, make a mess! Don't worry about every little detail or whether or not it's polished enough. That comes later, at revision time.
Have fun with that first draft; avoiding perfectionism allows a really great story to unfold! Do you struggle with perfectionism? Thanks for visiting and have a great day!
Reprinted from March 28, 2011
5 comments:
I learned waaaaaaay back when, early on in my previous life as a graphic designer, that "perfect" is the enemy of "finished." Sometimes that's still hard to let go of, but it holds very true with writing, too!
I've heard of this book but have never ready it. I've got to see if it's available on Kindle!
That was supposed to be I never READ it. Got distracted by your spammer.
Very sensible advice.
I've seen that spammer infesting blogs before.
@Jennette: So true! Perfect IS the enemy of finished.
@Norma: I didn't even so your typo;). Sorry about the spam.
@William: Yes - it's worth remembering. Sorry about the "infestation."
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