Kicking Perfectionism to the Curb

A wine-colored circle on a dark purple background. Text on the circle reads: Wednesday Words With Wendee: The Site Launch edition. Wendee’s Purple Pen Wordsmithing logo is in the lower left corner and her website URL, www.PurplePenLLC.com, is in the lower right.

I’m a first born child. Type A. Whatever personality test results indicate I like to be in control of things yet tend to observe a lot. Many of these qualities make me a good editor (and I plan to keep those aspects firmly intact!).

Then, there’s the not-so-great part of those qualities:

• I constantly self edit as I write.

• I get hung up perfecting scenes in my own writing and can’t move forward.

• Fear of failure is real.

I clicked “publish” on my website before I had everything 100% complete. It’s GOOD ENOUGH. For now. The tasks I have remaining can be done gradually over the course of the next several months.

What’s more important is that I like the site! I think the flow and placement of elements is great and I look forward to having All The Things(TM) complete. I’m proud of the work I’ve done (and the magical help I got from one very talented site builder for the framework was definitely the only way I’m to the point I am…) and for letting the site be good enough for now.

I’m a recovering perfectionist. This feeling has been around for entirely too long and it’s time to let it go.

As an author, I’ve had a horrible time with writing lately. And I’ve used every excuse under the sun. I have a plan to write daily and complete the manuscript I’m working on. It hasn’t been writers’ block or anything like that—I’ve been afraid to screw up the story. Silly, right? It’s my story. How can I mess it up? I have all the plot points outlined. I just need to connect the dots.

Sometimes it isn’t that easy. But it will be. This time. Because I’m ready to shut down my inner editor and let the words flow.