Be not afraid of going slowly, be only afraid of standing still.
- Chinese Proverb
It's so easy to look at the past and say "I could have done better. I SHOULD have done better. I should have written more, or made more time for editing." After all, it's going to take forever to get where we want to go if we don't make optimal use of our time, right?
Regret and perfectionism can be a bigger drain on our productivity than pretty much anything else. Personally, I struggle to retain a sense of proportion - I've written x many words, which is x more words than I would have written otherwise. Still, it's not what I expected from myself.
Writing is like life. It's messy, imperfect, full of unfulfilled potential (everyone has that one scene that was just so perfect in their head) and layered with excitement, regret, drudgery and bursts of inspiration. It may not go the way we want all the time, but if you do the best you can during the good times, the bad times can only ever drag you down so far.
Best of luck for the coming week!
2 comments:
"I will not should on myself today."
nothing for the last 2 days but I won't regret. However, Woman's Day lived up to expectations of its treatment of Kate - and gave me some details for my story. Tomorrow...I will get there...slowly.
You are so right Julia. I often get caught up in chasing the ultimate goal and forget about all the little positives that i'm achieving along the way.
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