07 February 2011

Progress vs Perfection

Here in New Zealand it’s summer, and with Christmas/New Year and the long school holidays it means the contract work I do to pay the bills is almost non-existent during January and February.  Therefore lots of writing time, hence the goals for this draft.  Later in the year when it gets busy (hopefully), it gets more difficult to stick to set goals of daily times or word counts, as work doesn’t come in a steady flow.  I can find myself working all hours for a time, and then a week or so with nothing, so I am more pragmatic about progress then and take advantage of the quiet times when they arrive.
I’ve spent the last three days reading and marking up my manuscript.  While I can see there is progress in the writing, I do find it depressing at how much red pen there is on a lot of the pages.  I sometimes feel as though the perfectionist in me will never be happy with it.  But then I read other blogs and articles that say the worst thing a writer can do is to send out work too early. 
Hmm how do you know when it’s the right time?

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