In our culture we are constantly bombarded with two opposing messages: nothing counts except first place, and the more recent arrival: it's OK to fail (as long as you learn from your failure). For writers, the first message creates a lot of pressure and feeds a savage inner critic. Unless we are improving with every single piece we write, by definition not every project can be the best we've ever done. Here is some advicefrom Peter Elbow, the author of "Writing With Power," on what to do when you're up against a deadline and you have the sudden feeling that what you've done is flawed:
"Settle for cut-and-paste revising or quick revising. Get done. Don't make any major changes. Get rid of what's absolutely impossible, sweep the extra pieces under the rug, touch up the blemishes, and wipe up the blood and be done with it. Have the courage — the wisdom, really — to settle for something less than terrific, perhaps even something second rate. If you insist that everything you write be your best work, that tells the demons they can shut you down whenever they feel like it."
That feels almost subversive, doesn't it? But the reality is that sometimes good enough has to be good enough. (And if a savage inner critic is a problem for you, I have a downloadable trance that can help; you'll find it at www.timetowrite.com)
