My perfect enemy

Our grandmother collected quotations -- little bits of wisdom she came across in her reading. She wrote or clipped and pasted them into empty books. I think it's from her that I developed my love of quotations. Lately, I've been contemplating a quote from Voltaire, a French philosopher and writer. He said,

"The perfect is the enemy of good."

I've never thought of myself as a serious, hard-driving perfectionist, but in my professional life as a writer, I've always been hesitant to publish anything but my personal best. It's why I've been quiet on the blog for so long.

I've lost sight of just how good, good can be. And maybe a steady stream of everyday, ordinary good is perfection -- at least for now.

I read lots of lovely, well-written blogs with beautiful photos, and, even though I'm an accomplished writer and aspiring photographer, I tell myself that I could never do anything as good as that, so I don't even do a good thing by trying.

Whatever comes of it, today I'm going to quiet that inner critic and stop comparing my work to the work of others.

Here's to the good and here's to Voltaire, who I imagine struggled with the enemy of perfect as well.