Obsessive Much?
Posted on | May 2, 2010 | 4 Comments
I often talk about the need to get stuff done as opposed to getting it done perfectly. The whole, “do you want it perfect or do you want it on Tuesday” philosophy is an apt one. Besides the notion that perfect isn’t possible, it can drive one crazy when one tries to reach it. Okay, full disclosure. I am often, not always but often, such a one.
And it hath, as Hamlet said to Ophelia, made me mad. At least a little. I start out with all good intentions striving for excellence, but balancing that against the reality of getting something done and done on time. (As long as we are confessing things, I must tell you that as I get older “on time” has become a much more fluid a concept.)
The Internet has changed the way I do things. I used to slave over every detail until the project went out, then leave all mistakes in the hands of my betters. Now, I get something done, post it on whatever site it is being posted on, then obsess about it. Reread it. Tweak it. Worry over it. I have spent the last two days putting up a site for a project that a friend and I am doing which sells fine hand-crafted jewelry among other things. She is in charge of the jewelry and I’m in charge of writing and designing the site and the sales system. I obsessed about every detail (putting myself behind on the #blog30 challenge, speaking of confessions) and finally finished the site sometime yesterday. My friend, Laureen, loved it, but made a couple of suggestions. I added those. Now I have spent the entire day… the ENTIRE day, going back and fixing, tweaking, adjusting, doctoring, revamping, honing and making it generally but oh so subtly better.
I do the same thing when I write, or when Steve and I write. I reread it over and over after we’ve both decided it was done. When we used to post chapters to our on-line serial (that became our book, Weeping Willow) I would spend the entire evening rereading the chapter eight or ten times, often going back in and making “just one” tiny adjustment. Eight or ten times. Steve makes fun of me. Once it’s done, he is willing to declare it done. “Are you reading it again!?!” “Yes. Shut up.”
This stuff makes it better. Does it make it perfect? No. Does it mean I’m crazy? Probably.
I am obsessive. Is there something wrong with that?
I certainly hope not.
~Geoff Hoff
Co-author of the how-to guide On Writing a Short Story.
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May 2nd, 2010 @ 3:49 pm
Love this. You point out a particular problem for writers and other compulsive types. Thanks.
Bobbye Middendorf
The Write Synergies Guru
May 2nd, 2010 @ 5:57 pm
Bobbye -
I seem to have a compulsion to be compulsive.
May 4th, 2010 @ 1:15 pm
Aha! Another comma pusher! I knew it. LOL!
And no… your last question… there’s nothing wrong with that.
.-= Deb Augur´s last blog ..WordPress 3.0 is Coming With Major Changes =-.
May 4th, 2010 @ 1:30 pm
Deb,
Phew! I’m so glad!