Chasing perfection

“None of my work has met my own standards.”

-William Faulkner

Hard to believe one of my favorite authors could be so critical of his masterpieces.

William Faulkner (1897 – 1962), one of the great American writers in the southern tradition, was a prolific novelist, short story writer, playwright and essayist.

He was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Nobel Prize for Literature.

It’s hard to believe that the author of A Light In August, As I Lay Dying and The Sound and the Fury could ever doubt the brilliance of his novels. His readers can only be pleased he chose to publish them anyway, despite his impossibly high standards.

And it’s also a great reminder to writers, when we’re being critical of our own work. After all, setting the bar too high seems to be a danger in the profession…