Intuitive Writing - Tumblr Posts

THE PURSUIT OF PERFECTION

As a writer, I frequently struggle with concluding a piece; I can never seem to arrive at a conclusion or a point where I feel satisfied.

Chronically, I add onto the piece, and the word count inflates, as do my worries.

Chronically, I edit and rewrite, never quite reaching a point of eureka. It is so, that I often catch myself delaying publication until the piece reaches perfection. It never does, and as you may predict, I never publish.

I just wanted to take a moment to remind myself that done does not equate to perfection. Sometimes, being done is better than being perfect.

Perfect might just be an illusion, which, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, a subjective truth.

What might seem flawed to you may be perceived as beautiful to another set of eyes.

So, publish that thing! You can always come back and edit parts you don't like or you've outgrown.

I feel like all artists, regardless of their medium of preference, are troubled by this greedy pursuit of IT - this idealized quality in our psyche.

We long to capture it entirely, and do it justice, but it comes out with different faces each time, all masks. They are never quite accurate representations of that which abides within us, and which we intimately know though we've never seen, only felt and palpated in the dark.

This dilemma reminds me of an oil on canvas piece by Anne-Louis Girodet entitled 'Pygmalion et Galatée' (depicted above). The artist attempted to capture the obsession of a creator with achieving perfection in form and aestheticism. The myth goes that Pygmalion fell enamored with his creation when a deity personified/humanized it. She represents everything the creator has sought to achieve; every frustration and choked-out idea fulfilled.