Why Flaws Are Essential in the Creative Process

We live in a world that celebrates perfection in all things and if it's not perfect then we're told in a way that we shouldn't bother.

When I first started learning to knit I could not, for all my trying, knit a scarf that was even or straight or ended with the same amount of stitches that I started with. 

I thought it was something I wasn't meant to do, I was not meant to be a knitter if I couldn't master this basic thing. 

This mentality would only make it so I never would be if I continued to let it guide me. 

Each time it wasn't perfect I thought about quitting, giving in, unraveling the whole thing, and returning the yarn, and needles to the store.

But every time I failed - I learned how to do it better. What had seemed straightforward and a repetitive motion, much like writing where it seems as simple as putting one word in front of the other until you reach the end of the story. There was more to knitting than I had originally thought, my tension was too tight or too loose, and I was dropping stitches without realizing it. 

Each imperfect attempt gave me the building blocks I needed to know what not to do the next time. 

Writing is the same. 

The first story you write isn't going to be perfect, and even the tenth story you write isn't going to be perfect because just like with a handmade scarf, there is going to be something in it that shows it was made by hand and not machine. 

These flaws make it unique, original, and one-of-a-kind, and if there is something you can work on then you will in the next one and it will be even better. 

Flaws are how we learn from our mistakes.

So go out and make mistakes, write stories that aren't perfect, publish stories that some people aren't going to like, and then use it as a learning experience to make the next one better and the one after that even better and if the one after that isn't better it's still ok.  

Just because I knit one good-looking scarf doesn't mean that every scarf I make from then on is going to be without flaws. It's not possible since the next scarf will be made with different yarn or using a different stitch just as your story may be made with new characters or a different genre. 

Don't let the idea of perfection stop you from creating and learning. 

Create to create. Fail to learn how to succeed. 

Keep being wonderful and trying your best. 

With love, 

B.K. xo xo

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- - - - This story was originally posted on Medium.

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