Why published is better than perfect

The myth of "good" writing – and what to aim for instead.

Hey Reader,

I am the world’s worst writer.

No, don’t you go and try to steal that title from me, it’s mine.

Okay, fine, we can share.

We live in abundance around here after all, there are enough “World’s Worst Writer” awards to go around.

🏆🏆🏆

Years ago, I quit trying to be a good writer. It was way too much pressure. Every time I sat down to write, the “weight of great” would suffocate me.

It’s not just me. I see it in my Write Your Friggin’ Book Already® program participants all the time as well.

Do you feel the "weight of great" too? 😖 I overthink every sentence before I write it 📝 I stop writing because it’s not coming out “right” 🚫 I avoid starting because I’m afraid it won’t be good

​Kit now has polls in the email. I love anything that makes email more interactive. <3

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About a month ago, I was hanging with a friend when he said, “I just don’t know how you authors do it. I go to write and it's so bad. But perfect sentences just flow out of you.”

“Uh, no they don’t,” I said. “The only thing that flows out of me is piss and shit.”

He laughed, “Oh come on, I’ve read your writing, it’s great.”

“Oh, no, my writing sucks,” I corrected him. “My editing might make it great, but my writing, it’s always shit. It has to be, otherwise I’ll never write.”

My friend’s mind was blown, and heart a little broken. We talked about all the times he didn’t finish a story he was writing because he thought it had to come out perfectly.

He’s not the first person I’ve talked with – and probably won’t be the last – who has this idea that to be an author, you have to write well on your first try.

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Where did this lie of the perfect first draft come from?

Is someone teaching it on TikTok or in high school English classes?

Or is it a byproduct of a larger issue of perfectionism in our culture?

I see it most acutely among historically underrepresented voices.

Between the idea of the model minority and pressure to speak for your whole community when you talk, there’s a real and perceived pressure for perfection – ending way too often in the marginalization and suppression of voices.

The only way I know how to combat that is to loudly and frequently give you permission to write complete and total shit.

I mean absolute garbage.

If your first draft is good, you’re doing it wrong.

In fact, I never want you to try to write anything good ever again.

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What even is good?

Half the books I love my sister hates, and I can't bring myself to even try reading some of the historical fiction she loves.

Good is so subjective, it’s pointless and not helpful to aim for it.

If you stop trying to be good, you might actually be something more exciting: honest.

If you stop trying to be good, you might finally write your friggin’ book already.

Or that essay, or journal entry, or poem, or whatever you’re wanting to get out of you.

Our lives are defined by the stories we tell.

Our culture is shaped by the voices we amplify and suppress.

Now is not the time to let perfection silence you.

Do it flawed, do it mediocre, do it imperfect. But do it!

Because the world needs your story now more than ever.

With imperfect love,

Lauren

P.S. Speaking of doing it flawed, I’m in Mexico City right now and wrote about flawed bravery while traveling on my Substack this week. Have a read or a listen – there’s now an audio option with me reading it to you!

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