Watching the Chelsea Flower Show 2022 — this quote is about gardening, but applicable to writing or any other art form:
Monty Don: “When you make a garden….do you set out to get a gold medal, or do you just try and make a nice garden?”
Sarah Eberle (who has won more gold medals at Chelsea and had more gardens featured there than anyone else): “No, actually never do that. Because once you chase medals, you lose the integrity of what you’re doing, because you make decisions poorly. Every time you make a decision based on other people’s thinking, or what you think they’ll think, you’ll go the wrong way.”
Monty: “So you make this garden for yourself?”
Sarah: “Absolutely make it for myself.”
A useful reminder to me, and perfectly timed, as I head into final revisions on the novel…