A Better Way

One of the biggest issues I have when I write is the constant thought that I could do better. And that someone else already has done it better, much better, than me. When I write I am always trying to find the perfect way to phrase something. To put just the right words together to get the sentence to sound the way that I want it to sound. I'm always wondering if there is a better way. Is there a better way to put this? Is there a better way to get my point across? Is there a better storyline hidden in here somewhere? So I write and I write and I write and sometimes I think I get it right, or at least very close. But most of the time I am still always wondering if there is a better way. 

I'm not sure if everyone who writes feels this way, but I do know that most people never get it right the first time, or the first draft. It's the trying that matters. The desire to not only say something, but to say it right. And I think there is merit in that. After all, we who love words know the power that they can hold. We know how amazing they can be when lined up in just the right order on a page. And we know that when someone gets it right, I mean really, really right, words can have the power to change the world. To shape history. And while I know that what I write would never and could never be quite as powerful as this, that doesn't mean that I'm going to stop trying to at least write the best thing that I can write. And no matter where my writing takes me, or how many drafts I start and restart, I hope I will never stop trying to get it right. I will never stop trying to find a better way, until I've found the best way to say whatever it is that needs to be said. Or write what needs to be written.   

"One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple."
-- Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums 

Love & Chaos,
Sam