Is it ready yet?

I wish there were a surefire way of knowing when a piece was finished.

I’ve been working on — and reworking — an essay over the past two months, and I’m reaching the point of frustration with the effort. Mostly, I’m getting frustrated with myself for the constant tweaking I’ve been doing with it. I feel like I’ve been working it over more than I should, but I still don’t feel the piece is ready yet.

If only there were a surefire way of knowing when a piece was finished. Maybe a writer’s version of the pop-up thermometer used to determine when the Thanksgiving turkey is ready to take out of the oven. Could someone please invent that for me?

In the meantime, I took to the internet to ask some writers for their take on how to know when a piece is done.

My inquiry to fellow writers on X (formerly Twitter).

Here are a few of the responses:

Ah, yes. Deadlines are always great motivators, as journalist and editor Mike Stevens reminds me. When I worked in journalism, there was no excuse for not finishing your writing assignment. The deadline always loomed.
Detailed documentation helps Erich Stamer.
When editing becomes tweaking, maybe you’re ready to call your piece done — or at least set it aside for a while. That’s the advice of James Gladden, who posts his writings at a Substack called Tales from Waldegrave.
Romance writer Jan Dering offers a variation on the Stephen Covey advices to “begin with the end in mind.”

And because I can’t embed Threads conversations *shakes fist at sky* I’m pasting below the response on that platform from Nat Weaver, whom you might remember from a Friday Five Q&A on this blog a few weeks ago.

Something I learned from video editing was that it’s possible to tweak forever. There is always some refinement that could be made. Some imperfection. George Lucas is a prime example of this, as twenty years after making the original Star Wars trilogy he started tweaking all over again. Best thing to do is to know when you are just tweaking endlessly. That said. When it comes to books, I have a formula I follow which helps me know when to move forward. 1/2

My book formula goes Draft 1, Draft 2, Beta Readers, Draft 3, and Grace (my editor). 2/2

Nat Weaver, posting on Threads

It appears there’s no single answer to the question, “Is it done yet?” There are likely as many approaches to this situation as there are writers.

What’s your approach? Please share your thoughts in the comments. Meanwhile, I’ll return to working on my seemingly never-quite-finished essay.

AI-generated image via Copilot.

Author: andrewcareaga

Former higher ed PR and marketing guy at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) now focused on freelance writing and editing and creative writing, fiction and non-fiction.

2 thoughts on “Is it ready yet?”

  1. I still face the iron curtain of outwardly imposed deadlines, so I haven’t truly wrestled with the demons of self-determination.

    Reply

  2. I’m slowly going through my backlog of reading blog posts, I’d fallen behind, and hey, it’s me! I guess you already know my response on this. 🤣

    Reply

Leave a comment