How I treat a creative work comes down to this quote.
“Every time I finish something, still, I am certain it’s the best thing I’ve ever made, that everything else was the useful but disposable compost preparing my living for the masterpiece I’ve just wrought.”
from Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
This insight rings true for me – that every creative project I embark on feels like a culmination and improvement on everything I’ve made before.
And it rings true for how I treat others’ creative works. If someone shares a new creative work with me, I treat it as if it’s the work they’ve created that they most love. Whatever my opinion of the artistry, I recognize and respect that it’s their favorite creative child – at least at that moment.
All creators make good and less-good art. The love we have for our works doesn’t necessarily have a correlation to the goodness of the work, and we all deserve respect for our love and effort.