It’s why many people give up on artistic endeavors like writing a novel.

Part of the process of turning pro, as an author or writer, involves coming to terms with the fact that the final version of the story/magazine article/blog post that ends up on the page or screen is never as good as the version you had in your head.

I have spoken with many writers who successfully completed NaNoWriMo (drafting a 50K word manuscript in 30 days), but never published the book they wrote. The manuscript didn’t turn out as perfect as they had hoped or intended, and rather than revising their first draft and improving on its weaknesses, they put the book in a drawer and gave up on it.

As Ira Glass notes in his much-quoted observation, “All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you.”

This sense of disappointment can be crippling if a writer has not prepared themselves for it. Until you accept your own imperfections as a writer, you’ll forever be chasing the ‘perfect version’ of your story, and thus forever disappointed by your creative output.

Learn how I overcome my own gap between taste and ability here.

Your pal in writing,

Kevin T. Johns, writing coach

P.S. My new thriller novel, M School, comes out this Fall. Get on the early notification list for free goodies.