I’ve sat at the screen multiple times over the past few weeks, tinkering away at drafts I have or adding new drafts for other ideas that I want to explore. But I’ve developed a new fear.

A fear of the publish button. A fear of sending out my work to the world, however insignificant my work may be in the face of that world. A fear, not of judgement, but of not being good enough, of failing to meet the high standards I set for myself.

The Myth Of Perfection

A lesson I had to learn over and over is the idea that good enough is better than perfect. Getting the job done is far more important than doing the job right. Of course, there’s a certain level of quality to be expected but, I have to learn to allow myself to make mistakes. To not stress over the words I choose to write with. To not overwhelm myself with topics and things to write about and worrying about whether the few people who read it will appreciate it as much as I do.

What gives humanity purpose is not attaining perfection… It’s chasing perfection.

All Art has Peaks And Valleys

If art didn’t… how would we notice the peaks for how tall they are? Imperfect art makes good art shine even brighter. Stephen King has written 70 novels in his lifetime. He is one of my favourite authors of all time. But he’s also written both my favourite novel of all time and my least favourite novel of all time (It’s The Stand and ‘Salem’s Lot, respectively).

Maybe in many ways the flaws in the things we create are good things, because a glaring flaw, an obvious flaw, is easier to fix than it is to continuously produce perfect work. Because if every piece you produce is perfect, then that implies there is no improvement that could be made.

Perfection, as a pursuit rather than a goal, makes it more attainable. Try for perfection, but never to succeed.

So… take this as a sign of things to come, I’m not promising as much of a change in my publishing schedule as I’m a college student, with a swamped workload. But… I hope to publish more. Finish all the unfinished drafts. Tinker with ideas I want to explore. If they don’t land, so be it. I have to learn to start deriving joy in the process.

To those who are reading and will continue to do so,

Thank you.