14 Comments
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Toby Neal's avatar

Loved this one, shared 🍿😎

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Kevin Kaiser's avatar

yeah, that tracks. That tends to be my high watermark these days, “well, I don’t hate it. at least it was an honest effort.” Leo was right about art or creative acts never being finished, only abandoned.

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Susan Strong's avatar

Are you talking to me? It seems so, and I'm grateful. You told me I wrote the book I could at the time. And that relaxed my shoulders. I'm still proud of it, and you were a huge part of it! Thanks, Jeff, for the endless encouragement and wisdom, young man!

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Rian Greeff's avatar

It's been about 3 months since I last looked at my first draft...

When the disgust at not writing is more unbearable than the disgust I feel for that draft... I'll be ready.

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Kathy Gerstorff's avatar

What a timely message! I just got back edits from my first fiction novel that I’ve been trying to write for 20+ years. He shredded it and my muse is crushed. It’s good to know ice cream helps!

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Yannis Helios's avatar

Thanks, Jeff, you have a way of convincing failure writers to continue.

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Philippa Moore's avatar

Thank you Jeff - I didn’t realise how much I needed to hear this today.

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Latham Turner's avatar

This hits really powerfully. Thank you for writing this.

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Hannah Hull's avatar

Thank you. I needed this.

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Anja-Karina Pahl's avatar

So needed to hear this. Thankyou.

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Terra Brooke's avatar

It hits home…and feels so true about any creative endeavor. I have told myself I don’t know what I’m doing and have done it anyway. The alternative would be apathy and boredom and I don’t believe any of us are here for that. Thank you for your words. I know they are great because I forget I am reading something and am lost being and feeling it. I do admire your skill and value your pieces.

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Susan Sigge's avatar

Terrific! I’m not a writer but I love telling stories that help people. I’ve decided to start a writing series on top of my new career of instructional design. This article helped me push forward, write, and publish (soon!). Thanks Jeff.

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Cori Bren's avatar

Magnificent! I could have shared most paragraphs and did share many…🙏✨

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George Kalantzis's avatar

Time to live, or time to die . Writing is the in between. Thanks for this

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