In spite of what my CV will tell you, I am not a perfectionist.
And I’m glad I’m not.
If I were, I would never get anything done.
I do like to get things done well, and it annoys them to leave them unfinished. But if I notice I’m spending too much time polishing and editing without really progressing, I know it’s time to let it go.
I’m not an overcooker. And that’s because I’ve learned that perfect doesn’t exist.
My early days of writing saw me spending hours on one single sentence. Picking the right words, juggling them around, breaking down sentences and trying to make them sound as fancy as possible.
Nothing was ever good enough.
Nothing was ever perfect.
So, I never finished anything.
I never posted anything, because I didn’t want other people to read something that I didn’t consider perfect.
It took me a long time to learn that you don’t have any control over your readers.