The aphorism, “A good conversation never ends, it’s only
interrupted” comes to mind. I feel the same about the stories I write.
Creators, artists, and writers are always striving to improve their craft. Reaching
for perfection, always falling a few inches short. This is why it can be hard
to determine when to call a piece you’ve struggled over finished. For me, it’s
more about knowing when to let it go.
Creating something is its own reward and its own punishment.
Every story starts with some nugget of inspiration, a character, a mood I want
to capture, a moment I want to bring to life. It’s this vision that compels me
to create the first draft. Invariably, after writing it out, and working
through however many revisions, what I end up with is NEVER what I originally
imagined. I won’t say it’s better or worse, but it is different. Even when I am
happy with the final result, there is always a tiny nagging feeling of missing
the mark.
If you keep writing and working to improve, you will look
back at old stories, even the ones that are published and see ways that they
might be improved. I remind myself that that was the best story I could produce
last week or last year or three years ago. M. Rickert says her old
stories are like snapshots of the writer she was at the time she wrote them.
It’s important to strive for excellence, at the same time
once you feel you’ve made a story the best you can – let it go. It may be flawed,
have some element that you wish you could manage more astutely, but if it’s
viable (i.e. has a plot with a beginning middle and end, a character who changes or
comes to a realization, etc.), then it’s time to let it go (today, that might
mean sending it to the ArmadilloCon Writing Workshop). Submit somewhere for
publication and move on to the next story with the goal to make that one
better.
Whether I see you at the ArmadilloCon Writers Workshop or
not – I hope you go forth and write story after story. I look forward to
reading all of them out in the wild!
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