by Kathleen Marple Kalb

Stop trying to be cubic zirconia and be the diamond you are.

Pursuing absolute perfection is impossible, crazy-making, and honestly, unnecessary.

It’s a lesson I learned as a radio news anchor years ago. Like many young anchors, I was obsessed with being letter-perfect. Every time I caught an error in my writing, or mispronounced a name, I silently berated myself, and it threw off my flow, drawing attention to the mistake and making it worse.

I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t know how to fix it until an offhand comment from a studio tech. He pointed to one of our legendary anchors and said: “Even when she screws up, she sounds so good you don’t notice.”

Well, exactly.

Think of diamonds. Almost every real diamond has an imperfection. It’s how gem experts know they’re natural. The only truly perfect “diamond” is cubic zirconia. (Yes, lab-grown, but ride with the metaphor.)

What jewelers look for is visible perfection. No flaws the naked eye can see.

Now, that’s a standard humans can manage.

If you stumble on a name, keep talking – and sounding good – and nobody will even remember.

Same idea in writing. Work as close as you can to perfect, and then just get on with it. If the piece is as good as you can make it, and you’ve given it a final proofread, send it out.

Nobody you want to work with is going to reject you for one stray comma.

None of us, and none of our work, will ever be perfect. That’s what makes us human, and our work worth reading.

Don’t let trying for absolute perfection stop you from sharing yours.

Polish yourself up to visible perfection and get out there and shine.

About Kathleen Marple Kalb

Kathleen Marple Kalb is an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order. An Agatha- and Derringer-nominated author of short stories and novels, she’s a weekend anchor at NYC’s 1010 WINS Radio. She’s been VP of the Short Mystery Fiction Society and New York/Tri-State Sisters in Crime and serves on the SinC Worldwide Board.

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