It is perfectly okay to write garbage–as long as you edit brilliantly. – C. J. Cherryh
At least once a week, I come to the conclusion that everything I write is garbage. Usually this realization is preceded by reading some brilliant piece of published fiction, at which point my inner critic Ms. Perfect, declares, “See? You’ll never write anything even close to that, so give it up now, quit wasting your time!” But this morning I read the above quote, and am encouraged to write “garbage” today, and edit tomorrow … if I can muzzle Ms. Perfect long enough.
I can state -- almost unequivocally -- that the title of this blog does not refer to my mental state. It refers to my writing, which does, of course, flow out of my mind. Sometimes the process of writing is messy, sometimes weird, sometimes beautiful -- and always harder than I wish, but I love it. As I wander back into the real world from time to time, I hope to entertain you with my musings.
What a great quote, Linda. I needed to hear that today, because I’ve just come to the realization that when compared to my books 2, 3, and 4, my first book is garbage. It needs some major editing. So that was the perfect quote to start my day of editing book one (again).
Sigh, I don’t think it will ever stop until it’s in print. (will it even stop then?)