Unattainable Perfection

A personal essay on a writer’s journey

Becoming a writer is a childhood dream that many experience. I was that child at five years old creating stories and scribbling them with pencil on lined paper. As I grew, I absorbed my environment and reshaped the worlds that I manifested in my dreams.

At a certain point, my quest to write the perfect book took hold and began to squish my joy. The pressure to apply tropes, to have ideal punctuation, and to make the plot unique stifled my creative flow.

I was no longer dreaming, burying myself in papers of burden. Striving for the perfection that was unattainable. In every writer’s journey, it is essential to return to the beginning and find the joy you once had when writing the perfect book was a dream. Once you find your happiness, you find resources and support to make the plot run the course to the finish line.

No matter the hours you pour into your book, it will never be perfect. There will also be someone who dissects it or simply doesn’t like it. The best way to achieve the ‘perfect’ book is first by loving it yourself.

After you write something you love, find the right resources to polish it and make it the best it can be!

• Write something that makes you proud as a creator
• Hire an editor for developmental edits or line edits
• Get beta readers to provide feedback on your work
• Join a writers’ discord that supports improving your craft

Most importantly…

Find your inner child, find your joy, and approach your work as a creator first and a perfectionist second.