Ever push that piece of work out the door and then get stuck with all the ...maybe I should have's...?
Maybe I should have changed this, added that, was this part too shallow? Too deep? Too wordy?
>Sigh<
Then you worry, fret and stare at the email while trying to push your thoughts into it by osmosis? Which leads me to ask if a piece of art ever finished? Can you write and write and then put it down for a bit and go back and say it is definately complete? Ever?
Or do you start the rewrite process all over again?
Did Van Gogh know when to stop putting the last star in Starry Night? How did Monet know when the the last water lily was complete?
Now the waiting is painful. Excruciating.
So I come here to moan and vacillate over what could have been, what could be-what I could do if I went over it just one more time!
6 comments:
YES! The instant it goes out the door, I see a million faults! No matter how careful I am before I send it off, I don't see these faults. The instant I push it out, I see them all SO clearly!
And they feel GINORMOUS!
So I'm not crazy?
I can't stop thinking about this and its like torture! lol
I've never released my writing into the wild. I'm scared.
I think it's never really finished. But, as a writer, one has to decide if they want to create one perfect piece of writing, or if one wants to eventually build a career. A career is built on several books. (typically.) So by necessity we have to do the best we can at the time, get it out there, and move on to the next piece.
I'm in the same place right now. I'm working on two pieces that will be distributed for free, one as an ebook and one as a podcast. And I have to develop the wisdom to know when to stop editing. When I have to push it out there and hopefully let it find an audience.
By the same token, I have to keep pushing until I get to that point. And that's the tricky part. Knowing when to stop.
I always do something stupid and remember it after the piece is sent. I think the most idiotic was that time I sent the wrong short story to the wrong magazine. Both were destined for rejection anyway, but it was the principle of this thing. I mean, I wanna make sure I'm on my way to the right slush pile.
I have been there many times...and just as many times I think that our instincts are correct.
They rarely lead us astray!
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