Good Enough

You’ve created a work of art. You have revised it a dozen times. No matter how many times you read it, you find a flaw. Shakespeare is somewhere up there rereading Hamlet and saying to himself ‘Dammit, that second act drags…’

When is it good enough?

If you have a great professional editor, they can tell you. If you have a great professional editor, why are you reading this stupid blog post? Go enjoy your wealth and success.

When is it good enough?

It is always good enough and never good enough. The question should be: when will you be okay with letting your precious little daughter ride her bike to the park all by herself? Are you imagining the scary guy in the white van (critics) just waiting to grab her and do unspeakable things (bad reviews) to her? Then you should never let her go. Keep revising until you are too old to care. Sit in the retirement home and babble about the life you could have lived. The daughter you kept locked in the tower will never visit you.

What you need to understand is that this story, the one you are working on right now, is not your only chance at success. If you created one, you can create another. Do you really think JD Salinger only wrote Catcher in the Rye? There were stories before it and after it. Really bad ones that he refused to let see the light of day, maybe some mediocre ones that were published without anyone really noticing. You have more than one chance. You have as many chances as you choose to take.

When your tenth novel finally gets recognized and you find wealth and fame, you can go back an publish the current one and the sycophants will love it.

When is it good enough?

When you find the next thing to write. That will pull your attention away and your unhealthy attachment to perfection will fade. Keep on writing new stuff, because you are a writer, not an editor.