Done Can Be Amazing Enough

I opened my Day 4 Blogging 101 assignment email soon after it arrived on the evening of Day 3. Write for my ideal audience member? So exciting! The ideas were tumbling over themselves, working into a frenzy, so I thought it best to wait and think it over.

The next morning, I sat down to write this wonderful post. A few lines came out. I questioned them.

Determined to continue, I moved down a couple of spaces and started again. A few more lines came out. I questioned them.

Concern cinched the flow of previously superb ideas, but I didn’t want to fall behind on assignments again. Two lines came out. I questioned them.

I saved a draft with the three false starts and walked away to think on it some more. I returned a few times during the day, looked at what I now deemed utter rot, and walked away again. I agonized the day away, filling it with other activities, until there was no more day left. I was officially behind on assignments. I had another assignment sitting in my email, but I would not look at it until I finished this one.

Now Day 5 is coming to a close, and my Day 4 assignment is still incomplete, because I wanted this post for my ideal audience member to be good, maybe even great. But then I remembered what Elizabeth Gilbert said in her lecture when she came to Pittsburgh last year.

Done is better than good.

Just as it will be if I ever get my book published, anyone who takes the time to read my words is dear to me. In a society that is always so busy and overwhelmed, I appreciate someone who puts me into their day. My dream reader is the one who is here now. It is you. Thank you.

And if you have doubts about yourself like I so often do, Elizabeth Gilbert’s Ted Talk from last year is excellent too.