WORKING WITH WORDS: EXCELLENCE NOT PERFECTION

I am up to my ears in editing my first book, Return to Rainbow Ridge. It’s a tedious, sometimes frustrating project. There are a million details to consider and decide upon. The question often becomes: how good is good enough?

That’s the frustrating part. There are already hundreds, thousands of contemporary romance novels out there. What’s going to make mine stand out among all of them? The temptation is to want make it perfect. But is that realistic? Is it even possible? Perfection is often in the eye of the beholder. What I may think is perfect may seem all wrong to someone else.

This comes up all the time in my spiritual life I want to be perfect in the eyes of God, but that’s impossible as long as I’m in this world. I am human, which means I’m not perfect, far from it. Just ask my family and friends. So striving for perfection as a goal doesn’t make sense. I believe God doesn’t expect me to be perfect. Only He can make me perfect. But I can work for excellence. I can try to be the best I can be.

The same goes for my writing. It will never be perfect, but I can try to make it the best I can. Even then, the refinement process can go on forever. At some point I need to say, this is it, and let it go. It will probably be the worst novel I ever write, but it it’s still a labor of love, and I hope the readers see that.

Okay, I have editing to do. Later, my friends.