"Surrender to your mediocrity."

What even is good enough?

After I made this papercut, I thought about how I should have centered Cheryl’s name, or moved it over to the right. But that would have meant starting over, so then I decided, “this is good enough.”

If you’re new here, this is the Weekend Edition of Creative Fuel. These Saturday newsletters usually include some ponderings, some links, and a prompt of some kind. Just a heads up to everyone that we won’t have these in December as we’ll be doing 24 Days of Making, Doing, and Being instead. If you’re thinking to yourself, “Anna, I don’t know what that is,” click here to learn more.

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Earlier this week I attended a virtual conversation and workshop with

Cheryl Strayed

and Steve Almond.

In talking about how she managed to finish her first novel, Torch, Strayed noted that she had to reset her expectations of what the novel was going to be. While she wanted to write an amazing novel, a meaningful novel, a bestselling novel, those expectations were holding her back from finishing it. And what was worse than potentially writing a novel that didn’t meet those expectations? Not writing one at all.

If we’ve embarked on a creative project, or thought about embarking on a creative project, we probably know this sentiment. Strayed’s advice? “Surrender to your mediocrity.”