When it came to everything from washing the dishes to wrapping Christmas presents, my mother’s thinking was much in line with General George Patton’s: “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week”.

Or, to paraphrase: A good-enough novel violently written now is better than a perfect novel meticulously written never.

I rather think my mother understand this radical notion – that mere completion is a rather honorable achievement in its own right. What’s more, it’s a rare one. Because the truth of the matter is, most people don’t finish things! Look around you, the evidence is everywhere. People don’t finish. They begin ambitious projects with the best of intentions, but then they get stuck in a mire of insecurity and doubt and hairsplitting… And they stop.

So if you can just complete something – merely complete it! – you’re already miles ahead of the pack, right there.

You may want your work to be perfect, in other words; I just want mine to be finished.

Elizabeth Gilbert, BIG MAGIC - Creative living beyond fear, page 177.