“Hi, my name is Samantha, and I’m a perfectionist writer. They say eighty percent of writing is rewriting. For me, it’s more than 100 percent. I rewrite sentences up to ten times, sometimes more. Ever since I was in high school, I missed deadlines, because I’d rather turn in a perfect essay late, than a lesser one on time. But now the deadlines are serious and my perfectionism is affecting my career.” That was me, years ago.

Sound familiar? Every perfectionist writer has a story or two. We’ve all been there. Writers’ block, procrastinating, anxiety, the trashed drafts that we later lamented. The hours searching for the perfect word to no avail. And after all the painstaking suffering, it’s usually the final draft that we like best, but not always. Is our perfectionism making us better writers or holding us back? Friend or Foe? Continue Reading