Embracing Frustration

I read an interesting blog post over at Editionally the other day. I know. I just broke a big, fat rule of blogging by directing you to someone else's site right from the get-go. What...you didn't see the scarlet rule-breaker badge on my chest?

Anyway, the point of the post was the frustration of a creative type person to capture what's in their head and breathe life into it for the world to see. That frustration is enough to make anyone want to quit, and I've seen it firsthand. I met so many wannabe authors when I started writing who are no longer penning even a stupid shopping list.

The thing is that this frustration is normal to every writer. No one can capture perfectly with words the image they have in mind, but that's a good thing. It allows the reader the freedom to embrace the picture you've created in their head and make it their own. It gives the reader ownership in your story, blog post, devotional, whatever, and makes a more lasting impression.

“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 . . . We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work . . . It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions . . . It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.” 

~ Ira Glass

So go ahead and growl all you like, but don't give up.