What does ‘good’ look like to you?
I often wonder what the answer to this question is specifically to the creative process.
The concept of ‘good’ is a difficult thing to master in creativity.
Especially when you’re sharing your work with the world.
You know that it won’t relate to some or they may not see it in the way you do, or intend them to.
The audience may struggle to accept it completely.
And you have to be okay with that.
Having built a practice for my art and writing, I am finding that I need to tell myself that a piece of work is ‘good enough to ship’ or that it’s ‘good enough to move along the process’.
‘Good’ also means sharing with creative peers and asking for specific feedback.
This requires some level of trust in yourself, and some level of detachment too.
Detachment plays a significant part in the creative process, driven by the concept of ‘good’.
I previously discussed Roland Barthes’ concept of an ‘author dying’ in order for a reader to take birth.
But what if your first draft was good for you? That draft that the audience will never see?
Do you disregard that first draft?
Or do you honour it as part of the bigger process.
Steven Pressfield talks about the first draft being the hardest to master and where Resistance is at its most powerful.
But I honour my first drafts because it feels like they are the closest to who I am.
The principle of ‘good’ has often meant the idea of being right; even righteous.
‘Good’ feeds off morality and even divinity.
We have many tales in the Hindu faith of good overcoming evil.
‘Good’ has a personification of taking the right steps in life.
‘Good’, as an adjective, has its roots in the Proto-Indo-European root *ghedh- meaning ‘to unite’, ‘to be associated’ or ‘suitable’.
We get a sense of connection from this description, right from the root of the word. This makes sense when we consider the idea of connecting with an audience.
The word evolved into the Proto-Germanic word *gōda meaning ‘fitting’, ‘suitable’, ‘fit’, ‘adequate’ or ‘belong together’.
The earliest known use of the word is in the Old English era as gōd, keeping its meaning from the Proto-Germanic word, but also starting to incorporate context like ‘righteous’, ‘pious’, ‘virtuous’, and ‘having the right or desirable quality’.
In the creative process, ‘good’ appears in different parts.
For me, it *is* in the first draft.
It’s where I have taken what has been in my mind to put on the page.
That’s a big achievement.
‘Good’ is in the next steps. Good is in the ability to relate to other creatives when they are stuck.
Where you can work with them to move each others’ work forward.
And good is in the shipment of our work.
Detaching from it, and trusting yourself enough to take the reactions.
How much value does ‘good’ have in your process as a creative person?
Is it something that you think about from the beginning of your process?
Or does it come at the end of the work?
Let me know in the comments.