"Don’t Let Perfection Prevent Greatness" by Ethan Gross

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Every artist is their own worst critic, and we need to be kinder to ourselves. When editing your work, whether in preparation for an editor or before submitting for publication, it’s important to accept that there can always be improvements. No story, poem, or memoir, is perfect. Perfection doesn’t exist. This is considered common knowledge, but a lot of writers still find themselves chasing this phantom. 

Author Matt Colville once said, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” He was admittedly talking about writing for games of Dungeons & Dragons at the time, but that line has stuck with me. It’s really good advice. So good that most of us are given it about our first drafts,but I think it remains relevant throughout the entirety of the writing process. Your third draft will be a significant improvement over your first, but it still won’t be perfect. And that’s okay.

It’s easy to review your writing and dismiss it as not ready. Not ready for submission, not ready for a professional edit, not even ready for your friends and family to read. It needs this, or that, or the other thing first. Take a deep breath. The work isn’t perfect, and again, that’s okay. This isn’t to say don’t strive to improve your writing—that drive is what makes us writers—but don’t let it dominate to the point of stagnation. Maybe not every story or poem you write will get published, but they’ll be done. Finishing a project is one of the most rewarding feelings in the arts, and so many of us deny ourselves that feeling because we tell ourselves that it’s only finished when there aren’t any flaws left. 

But there will always be flaws. There will always be aspects that readers point to as needing improvement. “It could have been done better,” they’ll say, and maybe they’re right. Do it better next time. Iterate on your ideas and let your work improve alongside you. 

This isn’t to say you shouldn’t edit your work; you absolutely should. Do multiple passes, get feedback from beta readers, trim the fat and polish the rest. Just accept that it won’t be perfect. Work hard to make it as good as you can without condemning it to forever rot in a notebook or word doc just because you think there’s something that can be done even better. You’ll never write much if years down the line you’re still stuck on polishing that initial story. Let your work live, and to live is to be flawed. You can’t please everyone.

I want to leave you with an exercise. Go find a book, a movie, whatever kind of art you love, that is either critically praised or that you yourself hold in high regard. Go through and observe it, thinking about all the different parts that make it what it is. When you finish it, ask yourself: Is there anything I would change? The answer is probably yes. Maybe it’s something small, or something you think is purely due to your own taste, and that’s the point. If that work can be so loved without being absolutely perfect, then so can yours.