Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Our works need not be final; we need not be finished with anything. Using a couple of magic words, we can give ourselves a choice of coming back to our work.

Consider the statement:

I am finished with this.

Writers often say this. (I’ll use the example of writers and their writing. I could mention  artists and their painting, carpenters and their woodwork, and so on.)

Well, some writers often say this. Some other writers cannot bring themselves to say it. They want to edit their writing one more time – then one more time after that and then one more… And then they want to let the writing set for a few days before they read it again. Being “finished” so is “final.” I mean, if someone else reads the writing and feels that it should be changed…sigh, well, the writer failed at being perfect.

Enter the magic words “for now.” Using these words, the above can become.

I am finished with this for now.

Ah, now the writing is not final. I have given myself permission to come back to the writing later. If someone else reads the writing and suggests changes, all the better as I may come back to the writing and change it per the suggestions. Then again, I may never come back to the writing. It is my choice, a choice I gave myself using two little magic words.