Perfection
By LMReviews on Mar 23, 2009 in Writing/Freelancing
Earlier, I did a post about mistakes. The natural progression from that for me is the reflection on perfection. Perfection, even if you only expect it from yourself, is a tough act to follow. For writers especially, there’s this drive to catch every error. We must revise, revise and revise some more. Even if we think it’s good, it’s not truly good unless an editor thinks so. Even then it must live up to the scrutiny of the reader. As a writer, you’re only as good as your last successful piece of work. It leaves very little room for error or growth. In this industry, you often hear “If you are rejected don’t resubmit your revised version to the same editor unless you are invited to.” Readers often say, “That book sucked, I won’t read another book written by that author.”
Obviously, it’s not just a self-induced pressure; writers are constantly put in a position to seek the approval of others. Even freelancers go through it. I see it in job ads all the time. “Must be fast, efficient and always provide 100% accuracy.” Whatever happened to the margin of error? It still exists. But, let’s pretend perpetual perfection is attainable. Writers aside, mistakes of any kind in any industry committed by anyone suggest a weakness no one is willing to own, not even temporarily. Striving for perfection is one thing, being perfect is another. We can all strive for it understanding that perfection is not possible but being satisfied with knowing that reaching for it is when our best and strongest efforts are put forth.
Does doing something correctly immediately suggestion perfection? In this society, if it is done correctly and the results create satisfaction then perfection has been attained. While the term perfection may not be regularly used it is implied in absence of complaints and the presence of satisfaction.
Continue to seek perfection as a way to challenge yourself to give more in your writing and in your life but recognize that perfection is not enduring. It must be attained over and over again. It is the lack of perfection and the lessons its absence can teach that makes life interesting.
