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Author Insight
Secret #5: Strive for Excellence, not Perfect
Once upon a time, I approached editing the way most people do: as an analytical left-brain pursuit aimed at finding fault and rooting out imperfection. And, as most writer/editors did, and still do, I followed these Gospel-like pronouncements: “Write without fear, edit without mercy;” “write from your heart, edit as if you don’t have one”; and “write from the heart, edit from the head.” I was a good editor, at least from that exactingly surgical standpoint: a professional perfectionist, nitpickingly focused on finding fault and fixing it. I’m not that kind of editor anymore – not on my work and not on others’. My journey from left-brain, critical-mind editor to heartful, whole-brain editor is too long to chronicle here. Suffice it to say that as I opened to a more free-flowing, nonjudgmental approach to my writing, one that jettisoned a neurotic, controlling quest for perfectionism in favor of a healthier, more attainable pursuit of excellence, I had to find a new perspective on editing. As a first step, I let go the abusive language so many of us use when talking about the editing process, language that disrespects not only our work but ourselves as its creator: We force the work to our will; we gag, restrain and rein in our characters; we kill our darlings; we hack away at our writing; we hammer our story into shape; we punch up our dialogue. Then, I did what this book’s Secret #5 urges: I began to strive for excellence not perfection.
Book Excerpt
The Heartful Art of Revision
Whether in writing or in life, many of us are addicted to perfectionism. Being perfect, we believe, guarantees that we will never be criticized, judged, rejected or humiliated. Being perfect means fewer drafts and revisions. Being perfect means instant success and worldwide fame.
Okay, so a Pulitzer Prize or an Oscar may not happen…at least not right away. But being perfect is, well, a good thing to be. Isn’t it?
It might be if it were possible. It isn’t. No matter how hard you try and how many drafts you churn out, your writing will never achieve perfection. Never.
Not ever.
Your work may be excellent, accomplished, creative and insightful. It may be innovative and compelling. It may be brilliant. But perfect? Not possible.
It’s not possible because when we translate an idea or concept into language, we’re taking something infinite (energy) and dynamic (neural impulses) and converting it into something finite (language) and static (squiggles on a page or pixels on a screen). The resulting “translation” can never be more than approximate.
Can you describe the sunset you experienced last night in words that will accurately and precisely convey to me every shade and nuance of what you saw and felt? Can you write a scene that reproduces the exact emotions you experienced when your child was born, when you got married or when a loved one died?
Of course you can’t. Nor would I want you to. As a reader I want to be free to have my own experience of your sunset and your emotions, and my experience cannot be a faultless replica of yours, colored as it must be by my life and background. Until we can somehow link your writer-brain directly to my reader-brain, that translation will remain imprecise and imperfect.
In the end, perfection is not possible in any creative endeavor. It’s not possible in any human endeavor. It’s simply not possible. As Salvador Dali cautioned, “Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.”
5. Strive for Excellence, Not Perfection
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