“I really haven’t written anything that I wouldn’t love to get back and write again” – Aaron Sorkin
We think of great art as something that is toiled over until it’s just the way that the creator wants it, and then shared with the world. It’s in the creation stories we tell of great works of art, it’s in the very fabric of how we talk about artistic creation.
The truth, I think, is a lot closer to Sorkin’s description. For an imaginative artist, there is not a work of art that is ever really done. We simply stop improving it because there isn’t any more time.
Telling yourself this true story is empowering, because it lets you off the hook for perfecting art before putting it into the world. Your own standards should ensure it’s as high of quality as you can make it; the fact that it doesn’t reach perfection isn’t a sign of failure–it’s a fact of creation.