Finishing Feels Good

Impending deadlines are highly motivating for me. I finished and submitted an article today, just making tomorrow’s deadline.

There is always a crazy balance between anxiety and inspiration when a deadline approaches. I lose sleep with worry. But when I finally do sleep, I often dream of solutions. This is a small miracle that leads me to believe I’m doing the work I’m supposed to do. This article was no exception. Because I’d lost some time being sick, I was especially worried about meeting this deadline. Writing articles takes time; time I could not compress. It takes time to spin. It takes time for the finished yarn to dry. It takes time to measure the yarn. It takes time to knit swatches. It takes time to block and dry the swatches. It takes time to write and compose my thoughts.

Months ago, when I’d proposed the article, I enumerated what I planned to accomplish within its content. Some content was concrete, other aspects were vague. It’s that vague part that eats at me. How do I express the ideas? What order do I put them in? What balance of technical versus chatty is right? Have I made appropriate samples to make my points most clearly?

Is it perfect?

In the Facebook feed this morning was a reminder from Creative Something: “Finished is better than perfect. Something is better than nothing.”

I finished making the yarns last Friday. I finished knitting the swatches on Monday. The swatches are still drying (the yarns are especially thick and do not dry quickly). On Monday night I tossed and turned and finally dreamed. By the time I awoke on Tuesday, my mind had lined up a general plan, which I turned into an outline listing all the topics I wanted to address. On Wednesday and today I fleshed it out and rearranged it to my satisfaction. And I emailed it off.

That feels good. Except now I’ve got another article due in seven days. So, for both the closing of 2015 and the opening of 2016, I will be anxious and inspired. And I will finish.

Happy New Year Everyone!