Perfect Is the Enemy of Good

PERFECT, The Enemy of GOOD

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Perfect does not exist in physical reality very often.

Seeking for it is a form of insanity in creative people.

Good is looked down upon in academic writing circles as "average," a word in need of a thesaurus.

And yet Good is a word imbued with importance in a multitude of ways, in a deep and abiding sense.

Good IS perfect.

Trying to be "perfect" is what got the angels in trouble, so they say.

Being good is far more powerful and is such a terrible and rebellious act in this modern world.

Ha!

So be GOOD and do it PERFECTLY and today.

For songwriters, it means finish the song already.  Don't fret, fuss and fetter when you go to put every letter on the page.

Being careful means first making a mess.

Be what the song needs to say without letting your mind - that hurting, wounded, critical thing, obstruct you from simply writing down on paper the words that come into your head.

Is that so hard?

Yes, it is.

Seldom does one pure thought make its way unchanged from head to paper, owning to a variety of factors including:

• slowness of pen

• unwillingness to write

• lack of clarity in reception

• misunderstanding of words 

• trying to make sense of what you're writing before you write it

• and so forth and so on including the worst offender

• attempting to write only the perfect thing (and nothing else)

It's exhausting, really, to serve and work with a perfectly brilliant person who, when it comes to writing, suddenly becomes a tyrannical, critical judge and perfectionist.

Boring is the process and the result of this kind of writing for those of us who know of the fretless joy that comes from effortless writing.

This is based on years and hours of practice, some willing, and some not so, but still undertaking as an act of will, power, escape and amusement.

If a person can write, he or she can learn to know everything in the universe.

Writing, and its necessary companion, reading, are the two par excellence methods and means of self education, the only kind, really.

In conclusion, let the illusion of perfect go, and let good be good enough.

Now write already.