Perfecting NOT Perfection

Perfection is an intangible idea, a spritely ever-changing tormentor who guides you down a path that initially seems so safe and soon becomes rocky and untenable. Don’t worry about pursuing perfection, actually, give up on the concept entirely.

Start setting solid goals.

Instead of saying, “I want my work to be perfect” say, “I want to be confident editing” or “I want to be able to craft my sentences with a consistent style” or “I want my character voices to be unique.”

These goals give you something attainable to aim towards and will give you a sense of satisfaction when they are fulfilled.

Focus on the act of Perfecting rather than the unreachable goal of Perfection.

The act of Perfecting will help guide you towards a place of pride and confidence in your work. It is a process of crafting and grafting, and learning, growing, and most importantly loving- yourself and your work. Perfection is a term we use to punish ourselves when we don’t live up to our own expectations.

As with all of Life, focus on the journey not the end goal and you will find yourself at the end of your project having grown in skill and confidence. Good luck!

You Need to Read Outside of your Genre…

Yes, you do, however, reading outside of your genre doesn’t automatically mean you should feel ashamed of the love and passion you have for your favourite genre. It’s ok to only read fantasy, to only read romance, to only read horror; reading is first and foremost about enjoyment and if that genre brings you the most pleasure- read it!

Reading outside of your genre offers you additional opportunities and perspectives to the ones you might get from your favoured genre. It is a bonus to what you already read, not a criticism of your tastes or a slap on the wrist and a firm guiding hand towards ‘real literature’. Reading outside of your genre can offer you unique insights into writing description, building character, dealing with time periods, race, economic inequalities, and many other techniques or topics. When I wanted to write characters of a certain race in my fantasy story I went away to read dramas and literary fiction focussing on that race/ethnicity written by authors from that community. Reading those books gave me some insight into the concerns and life experiences of those people that could then in turn inspire how my characters might experience and react to the fantasy world I put them in.

Reading new or challenging fiction should inspire you and will educate you in ways you didn’t expect, but it should NEVER be a punishment for your love and passion for your chosen genre.

Read for pleasure! Read to grow!

But most importantly: Read!

I’ve stepped on this topics toes before but it’s worth stating again just as general life advice.

Make sure your friendships with fellow creatives are mutual!

This means if you have a creative friend consider:

- Are you constantly asking them to do creative work for you for free?

- Are they asking you to do creative work for free?

Just because someone enjoys editing, or drawing, or writing, or designing book covers, or making videos, or music etc etc, doesn’t mean that can afford to (or want to) be doing that all of the time for free for you, and that goes vice-versa! You are under no obligation to do free work for your friends just because they are your friends. Your time and skills are valuable.

I’m not saying don’t do your friends favours

I’m saying true friendship doesn’t require you to constantly be doing work for your friends pro-bono in order for them to remain your friends. In fact, if you are constantly having to earn someone’s friendship-

-They are probably not your friend.

Having a friend or friends who will do free creative work for you is great but always be mindful that it is their choice to do that work and if they are doing that for you maybe it would be worthwhile thinking about how you can show them your appreciation for their time and effort.

All art matters! Your time is valuable!