prompt: “My philosophy is that if you don’t feel like what you’re creating is the best work you’ve ever done, it’s time to throw in the towel.” -Bernie Taupin
~*~
I was on the tenth rewrite of the song.
(Counting the lyric change in the first week.)
Whatever. I was jacked up on lattes and pressing the keys too fast.
Latte #3.
“We rolling?” I asked the engineer I couldn’t see.
“Yeah, start whenever.” My headset crackled.
The song still wasn’t right.
But I was tired and the album was already overdue.
I recalled Nate’s advice: “Hey, perfectionist, remember? Sometimes you have to let go or it will never be done.”
I could do this.
“Take six.”
I’d be damned if I drank another latte.
~*~
I’m working on storytelling through brevity.
Velvet Verbosity’s 100 word prompt for this week was: “whatever”. Love that site.
For the Scriptic.org prompt exchange this week, Michael at http://michaelwebb.us gave me this prompt: “My philosophy is that if you don’t feel like what you’re creating is the best work you’ve ever done, it’s time to throw in the towel.” -Bernie Taupin
I gave SAM at http://frommywriteside.wordpress.com this prompt: “He laughed at the sign. Was it his answer? Or was it just another chapter in the endless story of his bad luck?” Use the words or don’t, but take the theme in 1500 or less.
~**~
Any artist worth their salt is a perfectionist, and they will never be happy with their work.
It will never be “the best you’ve ever done”, although often it is better than the last thing we wrote because we learn with time and grow.
But the phrasing irked me!! It took me forever to come up with my response just because I disagreed with it to the core of my being.
Then I thought about it:
I never give up. I don’t think any of you should either. Sure, try to be the best you can be but also, give yourself a break and know it’s good enough, sometimes. But just because you have one day of bad art, you should throw in the towel?
I hope not!!!
But sometimes we do need to back away from the microphone or put down the pen and take a breather. Thins happen better when we aren’t freaking out over it.
I hope that’s what Mr. Taupin meant! Although I don’t think so.
What do you guys think?
Stay tuned for podcast updates.
-jms
P.S. Going into the studio again next week for one of my singles! Very excited about this one. May have dub step, but it may also just be electro club. We will see.
It’s a one-of-a-kind track on my album. Doing it just because I love listening to electro and figured hey, why not write one of my own?? (It feels so badass to drive to dub…)
P.P.S. I love you guys! Thanks for all the support, subscriptions and follows lately!
julia mae staley 
Very nice job!
I think what Taupin meant was not mailing it in. No filler, no “this will do”, no “good enough”. If it’s just good enough, it’s not good enough. If you pressed him, I think he’d agree that it’s an impossible goal to reach, but one you should still reach for.
Thanks for the prompt!
Okay, that makes me feel a lot better knowing it.
Yes, always reach for the best.
I’m never satisfied with anything I write, and will go back and edit even after hitting ‘Publish.’ We are always searching for that perfect word or phrase.
Hey! Welcome to the 100 word challenge. I love meeting new writers (or as I think of it, adding to the 100 Word Army, a.k.a. my beloved word-nerdlings 😀 ).
I guess I read Taupin’s quote as being that we should always be digging as deep as we can go so that we give our true gifts to the world. I’m ok with that. But, yeah, that can too easily lead to perfectionism which can be a real inspiration killer. Conversely it can also be the thing that drives you to produce great things. Finding balance between those two things has been a core theme of my life.
Loved this piece. It moved at a nice clip, and I could feel the tiredness and frustration.
I liked the natural flow of the submission
Thanks very much!
Like Velvet said – balance. Sometimes that means compromise – but more often it means saying, “It’s done. For now.”
Well done with this piece.
Thank you!