Head, Meet Desk

Still stuck.

On the plus side, I have had these moments many times before. I know where I need to go, I just need to figure out exactly how to get there. This is where my over analyzing everything comes into play. So, today's blog post is about perfectionism and the tireless, futile search for it.

I'm very sure that many, many writers, and just anyone in general, are overly critical of something (if not everything) they do. If it's something you want to devote your life to, then you become doubly so. Sure, there are outside pressures to be perfect and successful and all that, but most of it comes from some internal drive that tells you that you can't just be decent or good, you have to be great.

This is why I'm stuck.

It would be easy for me to just look at what I'm doing, shrug, write something inane down and continue to the next part that would come more freely. This is not an option. I'm going to use a terrible analogy here and say that writing something bad just to get to the easy part is like preparing for guests and cleaning your bathroom half-assed just so you can hurry up and prepare the wine and cake.

Now, I would LOVE to get to the wine and cake. I really would. But I would know that the bathroom of my story still looks like hell and people are going to see it. I can't let the bathroom of my story be seen by people, even if they aren't going to be staying in it very long and they surely know it can be cleaned eventually. That's not the point. That's the first impression they get of my story's bathroom.

So, instead, I'm the kind of person that will keep cleaning the bathroom, even once the guests have arrived and are wondering why we can't have fun yet. (I should mention that, in real life and not in a metaphorical way, this would never happen. Screw cleaning, I want wine and cake and general fun. This is still a metaphor. Just making sure we're still together.)

I'm now sounding mildly insane.

I know part of me should learn to let go. I know this is a valuable lesson in life for me, and for everyone with issues of perfection. The fact of the matter is, the bathroom of my story isn't going to be perfect unless professionals with professional tools get in there and help me do the job. So, obsessive bathroom cleaners, do you think it's time that we do what we can, acknowledge when it may be time to move on, and know that we can always go back to cleaning up the little mess we left behind once we've had the change to get some goodness in our systems and revisit it with a clear head?

So do I.

BTW - Snape.