I woke up today thinking about this blog of mine. I know that you all think it's genius, but the truth is, all my very best stuff is the stuff that you have no idea about.
A little while back, I came across this article about writers, and it made me want to laugh and cry at the same time. It is SPOT - the freak - ON. It's a pretty lengthy article (understandably so, since it is an article written by a writer about writers writing), so if you don't want to read the whole article (which you should), I will summarize it for you: Writers are all, to some degree or another, neurotic perfectionists, and they procrastinate indefinitely because things they write never seem to be perfect enough to publish. The only reason why any writers ever get any writing done ever is because their fear of missing a deadline overpowers their neurotic perfectionism.
[Okay, there was other stuff, too, and if you really cared about understanding the psyche of the writers around you, please go learn. But for this post, let us focus on just my summary.]
Today, I woke up feeling pissed about the whole thing.
I looked at my unpublished drafts box, and I realized that all of my very best posts/topics/discussions were still sitting there. I have more unfinished posts than I do actual posts, and I know that it's because I wanted to make sure that each of those posts were perfect enough before I published them. And since they never reached that level of perfection, I refused to send them forth into the wide open world.
But when I return to finish these drafts months and years later, I realize all too often that now it's too late, and the subject is no longer timely, current, or relevant. So then, they just stay there -- rotting away in my "drafts box" stinking of decay.
I first read the aforementioned article on February 14, 2014. I know because I copied the link and saved it as one of those stupid drafts on that date. But since I woke up so angry about it all today, ("it" being my drafts box), I decided to shut up, suck it up, and start clearing it out.
I'm the only one who cares about whether or not my blog post is perfect. You wouldn't know better anyway, since you aren't privy to my brain (which is too bad for you, since my mind is a wonder of brilliance and hilarity and great sass).
Sometimes, when it comes to writing -- and probably other things -- you just have to do it. And finish it. And move forward. And throw it all against the wall and see what sticks.
I don't think I'm going to edit this post. I think I'm going to push the orange "publish" button now.
This is monumental, guys.
- bcl.
