How To Know When Your Creative Work Is Finished?

In a community I joined recently, somebody made this post in the Writers group:

"How do you know when you're "done" with editing and it's time to release your book (whatever writing form) out into the wilds?
I've been in the editing mode for... oh about two years now... but I'm beginning to suspect it's just an excuse to not actually publish because I'm terrified. I personally think it sucks and I am also super sensitive to negative criticism (and I know this is part of the realm too). I can be "done" by the end of the year (going through last edits for corrections) but I keep finding places where I could tweak this word, or that word... they aren't really corrections like spelling or grammar or punctuation or format. Again, maybe they are just delay tactics?
How do you decide when your work is "done"?"

And this was my answer:

"Yes, this most definitely is an issue for many, especially - the ones with less self-confidence. And, for decades, was part of my daily struggle as well.

"...what I could have done in a week ended up taking months on end because of fear."(quote from another group member's answer)

I remember my DIL shared with me what one of her art professors taught her:
"An artwork (and a book or actually any text or creation can be included, right?) is never actually finished. At any moment, you can pick it up and change it a bit again."

The stories that we tell ourselves about wanting to create something if not perfect then at least decent/good enough, are just that: stories.

Our real struggle is with our identity, with who we believe we are, what we are capable of, and how much power over our feelings and identity we give away to "others".

But what if we are the ones creating all our future experiences (including the reactions of others to our creative work) by our (often unconscious) beliefs and expectations?

If that's the case (and it is) we can decide who we really want to be in the future (loving, serving creative people with appreciative following, f.i.) and live from that new identity.

Then, and only then, we are able to follow our intuition that knows for sure when to stop tweaking our work (and making it all about us) and releasing it into the loving hands and hearts of the ones praying for it to become part of their experience.

I discovered this only about half a year ago and am still learning, how not to spend too much time and energy in the old identity created by my old beliefs, but I'm getting there.

And life is much more enjoyable and easy not only for me, but for everybody around me already. So, I know from experience, it works and it can be learned as any other skill."

Any questions? Just ask! I would be more than happy to answer.

(Image: Artist Elizabeth Murray in her Manhattan studio)

The Power Of Our Imagination

Right now, I am working on a translation of the book "The Power Of Awareness" by Neville Goddard.

In Chapter VII, there is this simple but very helpful story:

"One day, a costume designer described to me her difficulties in working with a prominent theatrical producer. She was convinced that he unjustly criticized and rejected her best work and that often he was deliberately rude and unfair to her.

Upon hearing her story, I explained that if she found the other rude and unfair, it was a sure sign that she, herself, was wanting and that it was not the producer, but herself that was in need of a new attitude.

I told her that the power of this law of assumption and its practical application could be discovered only through experience, and that only by assuming that the situation was already what she wanted it to be could she prove that she could bring about the change desired.

Her employer was merely bearing witness, telling her by his behavior what her concept of him was.

I suggested that it was quite probable that she was carrying on conversations with him in her mind which were filled with criticism and recriminations.

There was no doubt but that she was mentally arguing with the producer, for others only echo that which we whisper to them in secret.

I asked her if it was not true that she talked to him mentally, and, if so, what those conversations were like.

She confessed that every morning on her way to the theatre she told him just what she thought of him in a way she would never have dared address him in person. The intensity and force of her mental arguments with him automatically established his behavior towards her.

She began to realize that all of us carry on mental conversations, but, unfortunately, on most occasions, these conversations are argumentative... that we have only to observe the passerby on the street to prove this assertion... that so many people are mentally engrossed in conversation and few appear to be happy about it, but the very intensity of their feeling must lead them quickly to the unpleasant incident they themselves have mentally created and therefore must now encounter.

When she realized what she had been doing, she agreed to change her attitude and to live this law faithfully by assuming that her job was highly satisfactory and her relationship with the producer was a very happy one. To do this, she agreed that, before going to sleep at night, on her way to work, and at other intervals during the day, she would imagine that he had congratulated her on her fine designs and that she, in turn, had thanked him for his praise and kindness.

To her great delight, she soon discovered for herself that her own attitude was the cause of all that befell her.

The behavior of her employer miraculously reversed itself. His attitude, echoing as it had always done, that which she had assumed, now reflected her changed concept of him.

What she did was by the power of her imagination.

Her persistent assumption influenced his behavior and determined his attitude toward her.

With the passport of desire on the wings of a controlled imagination, she traveled into the future of her own predetermined experience.

Thus we see it is not facts, but that which we create in our imagination, which shapes our lives, for most of the conflicts of the day are due to the want of a little imagination to cast the beam out of our own eye."

Any questions? Join one of my groups on Facebook and ask!

Or schedule a private conversation with me here