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Why Your Writing is Good Enough: Lessons from Bad Poetry
I know a lot about bad poetry—primarily because I’ve written so much of it. But my experience with writing (and reading) bad poetry has taught me something about letting my poetry be “good enough.”
One of the first lessons of writing in any form or genre is that writing is foremost a process. In the end, there is no right or wrong creative process, which begins to highlight why your writing is always “good enough.”
Perfectionism: Self vs. Writing
Never being satisfied with the creative product (a poem, a story, an essay, etc.) of our writing means that we’ve assigned a kind of label to it: “not good enough.” The problem with not letting our writing be good enough is that it tends to disguise an underlying belief that we are “not good enough” as writers. If that poem or story or essay or novel were better, then we’d prove on some level that we are “good” writers.
In other words, we continue to strive towards perfectionism, which has little to do with what we produce and much to do with how we think of ourselves. Perfectionism is a zero-sum game. It is an ego-ideal rather than a reality. What is perfect is not our humanity (that’s impossible); rather, our creativity is always perfect—a perfect product of the creative universe
.
What does this mean?
It means that our writings are always-already good enough. Read the rest of the article at poetryNprogress.
One of the first lessons of writing in any form or genre is that writing is foremost a process. In the end, there is no right or wrong creative process, which begins to highlight why your writing is always “good enough.”
Perfectionism: Self vs. Writing
Never being satisfied with the creative product (a poem, a story, an essay, etc.) of our writing means that we’ve assigned a kind of label to it: “not good enough.” The problem with not letting our writing be good enough is that it tends to disguise an underlying belief that we are “not good enough” as writers. If that poem or story or essay or novel were better, then we’d prove on some level that we are “good” writers.
In other words, we continue to strive towards perfectionism, which has little to do with what we produce and much to do with how we think of ourselves. Perfectionism is a zero-sum game. It is an ego-ideal rather than a reality. What is perfect is not our humanity (that’s impossible); rather, our creativity is always perfect—a perfect product of the creative universe
.
What does this mean?
It means that our writings are always-already good enough. Read the rest of the article at poetryNprogress.
Comment
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Comment by Ami Mattison on November 24, 2010 at 4:49am -
Thank you, Colonel. I'm happy to offer a reminder.
RYCJ, I find it interesting that we can, on the one hand, feel that our writing is good, and then, on the other, feel that it is never quite good enough. While some of that dissatisfaction can be motivating to hone our skills and make our work even better, the problem comes when we let it debilitate us. Thank you for your kind words. And good luck with your writing!
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Comment by Colonel Mustard's Sous Chef on November 23, 2010 at 12:57pm -
Very nice. Thank you for reminding us.
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Comment by RYCJ on November 23, 2010 at 10:00am -
Wow. That was really good. I think I really needed to read this, at this time too.
In truth, I feel my writing is good, though I also feel it's never good enough. I'm never satisfied.
thanks for leading me to this article.
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