SeanDareOnline.com

Writing is hard work. Those of you who write a lot will agree. The end result of my endeavors may feel seamless to you, but it requires hours of time and a lot of mental effort. A typical 1000 word post (my first essay was 1300 words) usually takes me 2-3 hours of writing and editing to get it “right”. Even then, when I come back to it a couple of days later, I often find mistakes I missed when I originally published it. Yet, if I were to continue editing, I could edit the work forever without ever feeling like it is finished. Writing can be described as the continuous pursuit of perfection, yet with perfection never being attained.

I think the secret to being a good writer is to know when you have gotten close enough to perfection to stop editing and publish your work. This reminds me of a story my Dad used to tell about the difference between mathematicians and engineers (my father is an engineer) which will illustrate my point.

The Difference Between an Engineer and a Mathematician

An engineering professor decided to show his students the difference between thinking like an engineer and and thinking like a mathematician. He got a math major and an engineering major to agree to a competition. The competition was laid out like this. At one end of the room was a beautiful college coed. At the other end of the room were the math and engineering majors. Both students were to transport themselves to the end of the room where the coed stood. If you could reach her side of room, and could kiss her, you could go on a date with her. The students could transport themselves across the room in any method they chose, whether it be walking, crawling, jumping, whatever. The catch was however far they moved in one motion they could only move half that length with the next motion. So if they moved three feet by taking a long step, the next step could only be 1.5 feet, the one after that could only be .75 feet, and so on.

The math major threw up his hands and said,”It’s a trick! No matter what there will always have half the distance left between me and the girl!” Disgusted he sat down and refused to even try. On the other hand the engineering major started jumping across the room. His first jump was pretty long at 5 feet, and his second was 2.5 feet, and so on. Each jump got shorter and shorter, but he slowly made progress across the room. After a long while the engineering major got close enough to lean over and kiss the coed on the cheek winning the competition.

The moral of the story? Engineers make it work even if it seems impossible.

The engineering student exemplifies how a writer must approach his work. If you have ever thought about the planing required to build a bridge, or a large building, you realize that engineering is incredibly complicated. A decision on the type of material used early on in the construction can have serious repercussions on how your structure fares later on. Writing a novel is so similar it is spooky. If you make a small mistake in chapter one it can impact chapters you haven’t written yet. Unlike a building you can re-write the book over and over until you get it just right. Like the student hopping across the room you might feel like you are making very little progress, I know I often feel that way, but if you can keep going you will be able to lean over and kiss the girl.

Leaning over to kiss the girl = getting published. Even though you can keep on refining your story; you will probably never perfect it. If you look at any author’s work close enough you will notice faults in their writing. The same applies to engineering feats. If you look close enough at the Empire State Building you will see the cracks in the marble. If perfection is not attainable then how do you know when to follow the engineering students example and lean over to kiss the girl? The trick is determining when you are close enough. If you aren’t close enough you will fall flat on your face.

I am on a quest to find out where close enough is. It will cost me time and effort, but I think it will be worth it. What about you? What kind of hard work do you have in your life? Are the results worth the effort?

- Sean