The Day After

[queenoftheskies]

Yesterday, I discovered the answer to one of the most important (and to that point, elusive) questions in my development as a writer.

How do you know when it's good enough?

Nothing is ever perfect. And, when I asked how did other writers knew when a piece was good enough, I didn't mean at what point did they stop and say, okay that's the best I can do, or just accept something inherently flawed.

To me, the question meant, how did they know, in their heart of hearts, when it was time to allow a piece of work the freedom to fly or fall.

It seemed so easy for everyone else.

Everybody always said, "You'll know."

You know what? They were right.

And, it inspires in me a sense of completion...completion of the process of writing, completion of emotion involved in a particular piece of fiction, completion of the knowledge that some day, the time would be right for me.

And, the time will be right again. I know it now because the fact that it has come once gives me the courage to complete the journey and know that I do have the ability to continue to grow and learn and develop as a writer.

And that is all I ever really wanted. The power to be able to believe in myself.

And, for once, the curse of being a perfectionist made me feel good about myself instead of making me feel like I'd never succeed.

Comments

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

Congratulations!

[stevenagy.livejournal.com]

It's a really good feeling. And I think as long as you internalize the idea that nothing is every perfect and there's always room for improvement -- despite the fact that know what you've written is good enough -- you're able to keep on getting better and better. :-)

[madwriter.livejournal.com]

My sense of It's Right is continually coming into conflict with It's Too Long...but I'll probably post more about that later today.