Eschew Perfectionism; Make Improvement Quotidian

Every now and then, I employ the wonders of social media in an effort to find insights and perspectives on writing that I think may be useful to MALS students. Today I found a shared link to the New York Times blog After Deadline in my Facebook news feed. Today's post, "Words We Love Too Much" by Philip B. Corbett, highlights some of the words that Times' writers have been guilty of overusing in an effort to eschew sounding too plain. The result is that the once punchy words flatten into expected (and slightly obnoxious), um, quotidian prose.

While I feel oddly vindicated as a scholarly writer when I read about these writers' overindulgence in "fancy" words, I also see two important, if unintended, lessons to take from this post.

1. Even the pros make mistakes in their writing. The folks who commit these errors write for a living, and their work is published by one of the most well-known newspapers in the country. Even after proofreading, imperfect writing occasionally makes its way into the final copy. 
2. The pros review their work and learn from their mistakes. The very existence of this blog indicates that someone at the Times is seeking out constructive criticism from colleagues and readers and is presumably using that criticism to improve their writing skills. 

So, lighten up on yourself as a writer. Perfection is impossible; you will make mistakes. Do yourself a favor and make a ton of mistakes in the early stages of writing. If you're diligent in your efforts to improve, you will learn to recognize mistakes and trust yourself to clarify, revise, proofread, and edit your work. This self-assuredness leaves you free to get your inspired but messy and grammatically horrendous thoughts out on paper in the early stages in the writing process. As a result, your final draft will be stronger, clearer, and more compelling than it would be had you aimed for perfection in the first place.