Should You Wait To Publish Material Until It’s Perfect?
Warning: Diatribe Incoming
This article is ostensibly going to be about whether you should wait until something is perfect before you publish it. In reality, it’s going to be a Sunday-afternoon stream-of-consciousness set of thoughts on the idea.
Really though, you all know my thoughts on this already. Five minutes’ worth of browsing this blog will show you that things are far from perfect. I don’t really edit anything on here and I barely have a coherent plan before I sit down to write anything.
I’m very much in favour of hitting that publish button as soon as possible and as often as possible. I’ll rant explain why in the article below.
Inevitable Pre-Caveat
You can always come back to your work. You don’t know what’s going to be a hit, what’s going to be useful for your readers and what’s going to fall flat on its face, disappearing into the ether of “0 views” forever.
It’s an infinitely better use of your time to put new material out there rather than playing a game of “wait and see” but the caveat is this: If something takes off, then you are free to go back and fix it. If someone calls you out on mistakes, then fix them. If something makes you a profit without many views, then by all means go back and do a better job.
(Side note: I’ve done all of those things on this blog… but you probably won’t ever notice because why would you?)
With that said, let’s get on with the topic. Should you publish regularly or publish when you’ve created an unassailable masterpiece?
(Or more realistically: Why this writer thinks you should get over it and publish regularly.)
Why “Perfection Isn’t Going To Save You, It’ll Break Your Heart
The Lord Of The Rings is a masterpiece, by all accounts.
It’s got depth – a whole Universe and cosmology in fact.
The characters are for-the-most-part fully-realised with their motivations, fears and doubts.
The themes and implications are huge, wide-ranging and complex.
People across the entire globe and several generations have enjoyed the books and various adaptations.
It’s successful in every respect.
But I don’t really like it.
Now, you might be tempted to say, “Jamie… that’s because your brain is too small.”
You might be correct in that assertion, though as small as my brain is, it’s not small enough that I’m willing to join the legion of trolls and their possibly superior cousins; the endless forum experts and people who devote entire days to writing multi-thousand-word-long manifestos about why something good is actually terrible. And it’s not just terrible… it’s the worst thing in the world ever.
For the record, I’m still talking about The Lord of the Rings here. But why?
Because if you spend years working on a masterpiece that’s as good as The Lord of the Rings you’re still going to get raked over hot coals by some idiot somewhere.
…Chances are, your blog post about the ten top ways wet-shaving turns you into a real man isn’t going to be The Lord of the Rings.
Why “Perfection” Is A Gold-Feathered Unicorn Waiting For You To Find It
If you wait and edit and perfect until you’re greying at the temples, you might create a piece of work which you consider to be perfect.
Nobody else will.
Perfection is a subjective quality, and you’re a subjective being.
Oh, and there’s a hidden time-cost to everything you do.
It’s not just a case of, “We’ve only got so many years on the planet!” But instead, the subjective you which exists now has a limited shelf-life.
Consider the things you found “perfect” when you were six years old.
Then consider the things that you found perfect at sixteen years old.
Then, assuming you’ve hit various stages of adulthood, reflect on perfection, aesthetics and taste.
They change.
The you that exists now – and thus the you that will be proud of your work – will not exist in the future with the work you’re creating in the present.
If you’re moving forward in life, then the best work you can create now is going to be less-than-perfect in the future.
If you’re not moving forward, then hello ‘Bitter Taste Of Nostalgia’ that’ll affect you with every piece of great work you create.
On a shorter-term basis, think of your inspirations: where you take a single moment of inspiration is probably only good for a couple of fits of creativity. You use up all your dopamine the first few times you listen to a new song before you’re on to the next novel experience.
Inspiration is lightning in a bottle, and the way you perceive the world –and any other stimulus – is a temporary viewpoint which you’ll lose sooner or later, to be replaced by something else.
Too Vague, Jamie… What’s That Got To Do With Blogging/Books/Whatever?
With any luck, I vaguely established above that you as an author is a temporary thing at best.
So is your audience, by the way.
Anyway, without resorting to pseudo-intellectual nonsense (and more than above, at least,) if you search for “perfection” in the things you write or do… you’re going to lose time.
Time is a finite resource. Your attention is a finite resource, and you’ll waste a lot of it searching for perfection. Your audience isn’t waiting with baited breath either. (They’re all too busy ranting about George R.R. Martin’s reluctance to finish a book.)
Perfection is an illusion. Especially when it comes to blog posts… I mean, it feels silly typing that sentence. That’s how stupid it is.
This means you have a choice: Publish material or don’t publish material.
If you’re trying to create material that’s perfect, you’re in the latter camp. You’re not publishing material.
Neither are you practicing, improving and generating new material from the feedback you’d receive if you were publishing regularly.
You’re also getting left behind by people who are willing to hit the publish button and face the consequences of their actions.
Finally, you’re supposed to be moving forward and the only way to move forward is to hit publish. Repeatedly.
Final Thoughts
Seeking perfection in the arts is a fools’ errand.
Sure, sometimes people strike gold. However, read your favourite biographies about people who struck gold – with theories, artwork or otherwise. Almost every single time, there is a period where those people hit rock after rock.
If you want to move forward and get better – and hopefully get to the gold-striking point – you need to get to hitting rocks.
If you’re a writer, that means putting out lots of material, improving and using what you learn to make the next piece better.
When you don’t do this, you’re standing still – and when you’re standing still, everything is changing around you, including yourself.
This is getting more vague as I get more tired, so with that bombshell, I’ll finish.
P.S. I can’t believe I’m going to hit publish on this nonsense. But that’s the point, isn’t it?