#< once again my need for perfectionism leads me to delays

[written-mishaps]

ALRIGHT so, I've written a pretty solid first draft of IWOAMOT Final chapter, so all that remains now is a solid second pass that sufficiently puts in enough if the Feels(tm)

[ill-be-istj-if-no-one-else-is]

Hi, I've only recently come across your blog and I'd like to ask you a question regarding my type. I've originally written a long text to mbti-notes via private messaging, but I'd like to hear your opinion as well and draw conclusion from that. In short, I've been typing myself as INFP most of the time, even though I've felt like something is off, that I don't relate well to Fi-dom descriptions, etc. so I'm now thinking I could be an INFJ. I'll provide examples for INFJ as well as some questions

Some info: I'm 20, bipolar, have PTSD and severe social anxiety (diagnosed, so I know I'm not just looping or gripping, but this leads to questions such as if I really have Fe or it's just anxiety, etc.) but I've started psychotherapy, I'm not in a depressive nor hypomanic state so nothing really influences my perception of self, etc. Pretty confident that I'm an INFx, although I'm open to other possibilites, as well. Ni usage: I have a concrete sense of direction and where I want to end up

which does slightly change when I'm going through even more stress than usual, however I have everything planned out and absorb as much information on anything that could help me achieving my goals as possible. Unlike many Ne users (even Ne-terts I know), I don't enjoy switching areas of interest every week, dedication and going for your goal is ultimately what matters to me. I often envision the ideal situation and don't enjoy preparing for everything at one time: I get disappointed whenever

doesn't go as I envisioned it, but I often subconsciously "just know" how some things will play out. Though, this doesn't mean I'm okay without thinking everything thorough and immediately reacting to everything hoping it will be all right.HOWEVER: I think anyone is capable of (thinking they're) "predicting things" for whatever reason. I do like structure, and I have the need to know everything before my mind can move on. Although I have trouble with procrastination, I see this as more of an

emotional issue, since I still need everything to be clear. But still, I'd rather delay something than set it in advance when circumstances can change uncomparingly drastically, and this just seems like common sense to me. I'm absolutely perfectionistic in what I assume is important to me. I have to have full control over specific processes since I usually have some kind of vision how they have to turn out and evolve. HOWEVER: I could definitely picture an Fi-Te user doing this with their art

Why I don't think I use Ni: despite me criticizing whatever seems superficial to me, I still would describe myself as "too shallow" to be put in the same list as other Ni doms if judging by the depth of their Ni. I can enjoy things like living in the moment or spending good time with friends possibly too easily for an Ni dom. I've also been described as scatter-brained before, and had to take the role of the class clown on some occasions (this is more stereotyping than typing by functions, tho)

Fe: I'm pretty much "anti-Fi" in some aspects: this comes more from comparing myself against other Fi dominants, but they all have a somewhat, for a lack of better word, naive way of thinking about their identity, such as that you should show who you truly are all the time and through anything you can, to the point of giving up anything that makes them take up a persona. While this can be exhausting to me as well, I just don't seem to have a sense of personal identity whatsoever

Why I don't think I have Fe: even though I care a lot about what people think of me, I wonder if it's actually just inferior Te. In the end, even though I don't have a sense of identity, I "adopt" characteristics of people who seem interesting to me and act as if they were mine. Why I don't think I have Se: I don't think I have ever looped in a way of making impulsive decisions I regret later, etc. only wasting my time sleeping, doing pointless physical activities, etc.

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Hi anon,

I was not able to come up with a type from this as there are very few actual examples, and putting things in terms of MBTI jargon/comparison to people you have typed as certain types is not really useful because I don’t know if they’re actually that type; it’s also really hard to go off of “here’s everything I’m not”, so I would recommend reading through the FAQ if you’re still stuck. Also, 20 is young and you might need more time to develop, particularly if you’ve been dealing with several mental health issues during your teens.

That said, here’s what I have

- lack of examples often correlates to high intuition in that intuitives tend to go straight to their interpretation and general descriptors rather than examples of their behavior

- someone once joked that long asks are usually high Ne and while I don’t think that’s universally true, it’s often true.

concrete sense of direction and where you want to end up is usually high Ni or Si, but in particular the part about procrastination because things can change really does not sound like an Ni dom at all. Dom Ni users tend not to procrastinate but also tend to really struggle with contingency - they are often so fixated on the vision that they don’t know how to deal with the idea that it may not come to pass.

Liking structure is one thing; do you create structure? Some NPs and SPs appreciate structure as an aid/jumping off point but do not create it; they can still find it helpful. Improvisation is still something that has structure, it’s just not the set structure. So this is a case where examples are absolutely vital.

A lot of the other Ni stuff is just people stuff; I think most people have an image of the ideal, and MBTI defines more your relationship to that, not that it exists. Perfectionism is also something for which examples are pretty vital; I see high Ti users claim perfectionism when it’s more what I’d call logical consistency, and sometimes it’s just high standards.

I should also note that while the circumstances of this question make me think intuition is more likely, most of what you’ve said for Ni is equally likely (if not more likely) to be Si; there’s nothing about themes or abstraction, but rather some degree of planning ahead/closure, with an eye to contingency.

So: examples are needed for the perceiving functions.

The part about Fi is similarly not really useable; I don’t know the people you’ve typed as Fi users; I don’t know if they are actually Fi users or if they’re immature Fi users, if you’re talking about ten people or two people, or what. This isn’t to say that comparing yourself against other people isn’t useful for typing yourself - it is - but when asking people who do not know you questions, you need references that they have access to and I do not have this access. With that said, lack of a sense of identity indicates you’re probably not a high Fi user.

Inferior Te wouldn’t really make you care much about what other people think of you (certainly not more than inferior Fe), and again, it’s hard to determine anything from adopting characteristics of others since that can be normal cognition (people mirror each other in general, regardless of type) or alternately, a conscious decision to imitate someone you admire (which anyone can do since it’s by choice).

My wild guess is xNTP, actually, but it’s very tentative; this felt too rambly for high Ni and the evidence for/against feels like it’s coming from a place of high Ti, attempting to put a consistent logical “if I do not fit all aspects of this I am not this” model in place.

[satanfm]

hello! this is my smol messy child with a heart of gold lux !  i’m very excited to rp with all of you beauts, so pls give me all of your affection & plots 🥺 lux is twenty-three, a singer and professional nuisance to record companies, managers, collaborators, exes, and basically anyone who’s ever met her. positive traits are often overshadowed and forgotten due to the intensity of her negative traits.

chicago’s very own lux santana has been spotted on madison avenue driving a range rover , welcome ! your resemblance to sofia jamora is unreal . according to tmz , you just had your twenty third birthday bash . your chance of surviving new york is uncertain because you’re aggressive , but being confident might help you . i think being a leo explains that . 3 things that would paint a better picture of you would be being soft and stone cold at the same, broken guitar strings, & singing songs under her breath. (lux doesn’t want children, so when she got pregnant she had an abortion and lied about it to the father by faking a miscarriage) & ( cis female & she/her) + ( hailey , 19 , she/her, cst)

— “ basics ! ’ 〉

full name. lux santana. 

nicknames. friends can her lux, and enemies call her satan. 

age. twenty-three. 

date of birth. july 26. 

occupation. singer/songwriter. 

sexual orientation. pansexual. 

birthplace. chicago. 

zodiac. leo. 

spoken languages. fluent in english, spanish & some french.

— “ backstory ! ’ 〉

satan ... i mean lux santana was actually born delilah humpries and raised in chicago. her father is one of those important political bigwigs and...all she knows about her mother is that she’s never known her mother.

her dad was the typical rich successful man who showered his child in all of the presents and money that she could ever ask for in order to make up for the fact that he was always too busy working to ever spend any actual time with her and instead left lux to be raised by a revolving door of nannies

from a young age it was obvious that lux had a talent for music & ofc her dad was willing to pay for her lessons so long as it kept her occupied so she started with singing and piano but moved on to learn a few other instruments including the guitar and even began dipping her toes into songwriting. by the age of 14 she had written and recorded a whole demo album in her bedroom and once it was done, she started sneaking out at night so that she could go hang around the local big name recording studios in the hopes that she would catch a producer leaving for the day and hopefully convince them to listen to her demo

she never did

sis really tried though. now ofc her dad could’ve paid a record company to just hand her a contract and she knew that, but dammit. lux wanted music to be her lifelong career and she wanted to earn it herself. she knew that she was genuinely talented even though her demo album was probs lowkey garbage lmao and she knew that she could be successful, and she didn’t want anyone to be able to say that she didn’t truly work for her career

she was so determined that she spent y e a r s relentlessly hounding record companies but no one would give her the time of day, so she developed a different strategy after seeing some flyers around the city and at the age of 16 she joined a local bar band who happened to seeking a lead singer...and got kicked out like two weeks later for being absolutely fucking insufferable

join local band in need of a lead singer. attempt to overhaul said band and push all of the other members into the background. face resistance from said other members. get angry, lash out, get kicked out of the band, repeat. it was a vicious cycle that went on for a couple years.

it was while she was in the midst of this vicious cycle that she met her (now ex) boyfriend and they were...whew. A WHOLE MESS. he was the frontman of a different band that was gaining more and more popularity by the day. he was older and he seemed so cool, and so ofc lux fell for him hard. they got together and appeared to be madly in love, but all was not perfect at all.

they were veeeery on and off, the type of couple to get in a screaming match and “break up” over nothing only to get back together like ten minutes later. this guy also wound up getting lux hooked on drugs, getting her arrested, getting her name plastered all over the tabloids for everything except her music, which was something that she still hadn’t quite found her footing in yet

until finally at the age of 19 she landed a record deal and, at the age of 21 after a lot of delays that had to do with her perfectionist nature and tumultuous relationship her first album was released and turned out to be a major success with all of the singles charting, lots of streams and airplay and a sold out debut tour that would unfortunately get cut short

so basically what happened was her bf showed up after one of her concerts and ofc they got high together, but then lux started to overdose. she passed out, but her bf thought she was dead and ofc he freaked out so, uh...he ran. literally bolted out of her tour bus and lux has not seen him since

fortunately she was found by someone else in time and rushed to the hospital. of course the rest of her tour was cancelled so that she could recover and she subsequently did the obligatory few months in rehab only to get out and immediately go back to using. that was over a year ago now and since then she’s been working on her second album aaaand it’s almost finished! people are starting to wonder what’s taking her so long and the answer is honestly just the fact that she’s nearly impossible to work with tbh

— “ fun facts / headcanons ! ’ 〉

lux is lux, not delilah. she uses the stage name in order to a) be pretentious and b) distance herself from her family name as a way to shut down the argument that it’s the only reason why she’s famous/successful. as for where the name came from? but yeah. lux, not delilah, or she’ll get all huffy.

pan af, has dated & hooked up with people both before and after her disaster bf and sometimes while they were “broken up” for all of ten minutes. tbh she kinda...gets with people solely to use them as songwriting material and then just dumps them when she’s gotten some material out of them? yikes! so she can be a bit of a heartbreaker.

since music is really the only thing in her life that she takes seriously, it’s what most of her energy tends to go into and it’s why she can be so impossible to work with. she’s always full steam ahead and she always thinks that she’s right, which doesn’t really pair well with the fact that she’s also very stubborn. recording studio employees have literally quit on her in the middle of a song more than once before bc they just couldn’t deal with her anymore. she’s that bad.

she’s quite intelligent and empathetic and genuinely talented but unfortunately her stubbornness and perfectionism and short temper often overshadow her best qualities and become all that people are able to see when they look at her. lux, surprisingly, doesn’t seem to realize that dialing back the attitude might help her in her quest to be just be taken seriously for fuck’s sake

she is the embodiment of ' 5′1 but attitude 6′2′.

can be v reckless, willing to try anything once.

she's v free spirited but can be flighty, never wanting to settle, always on to the next thing, whatever it may be.

big on living in the moment, future who?

— “ wanted plots ! ’ 〉

some potential wc i’m terrible at thinking of these so please don’t feel limited by this list!

best friends

step siblings

cousins

perhaps someone from her mom’s side of the fam

attempted good influence

exes ( she probs has a bunch who hate her )

former / current hookups ( again, she probably has a bunch )

ex friends / bridges she’s burned ( probs has more of these than anything else lmao )

straight up enemies

other singers or musicians who have tried to work with her

people she’s written songs about!

[my-add-chronicles]

when half-assed is still a great choice: task management for us race cars

Half-assed is always a good choice. In fact, I’m of the opinion that for us it’s actually the ideal choice.

For me, I deal with a lot of black and white thinking.

The way I experience and plan my day, the way I try to coordinate time, the way I approach tasks. Habitually I find my default is to use an all-or-nothing approach. It’s just what feels comfortable.

But that comes with a lot of weaknesses and limitations. I tend to try to finish things all at once to fully utilize my limited, finicky attention span and emotional energy. I don’t trust or even know if I can handle doing something tomorrow, so if I do something today I want to finish it ALL today.

Because lord knows about all those half-finished projects am I right? Not to mention out of sight out of mind. Sometimes I find something a week later like ‘shit. I was going to do that’

So knocking off a task completely so it can’t be delayed or forgotten is always my instinct.

Another factor I find is, I tend to be attracted to finishing a project in a single sitting or a single evening because... then I don’t have to do it longer. The romance in procrastinating a paper until 6 hours before it is due is- you only have to work on the stupid thing for 6 hours. And when your default mode is perfectionism, and when you have limited emotional energy, sometimes knowing there’s a hard limit of how long you have to suffer through something is the only thing that allows you to get something done.

Unfortunately, for a lot of tasks that’s not healthy or realistic. While I embrace my natural approach to tasks, it’s good to operate within some boundaries, i.e. knowing when to give up (avoid losing sleep!) and making a conscious effort to remember to eat and drink water and so on.

But there are some tasks that are literally impossible to knock off the priority list in a single go because either they are a task you’ve been avoiding that has piled up, due to other more pressing priorities or life factors (i.e. my current mountain of clean laundry)... or they just never were things that were realistically possible to finish in a single sitting or a single day.

What’s my default instinct when I can’t finish a task in a single sitting? .... avoid it! Avoid and avoid and avoid some more. Unless they become an immediate barrier to immediate needs or have a negative impact on others, the task drops to the bottom of my priority list.

The irony is, a task that could have been done easily over a short amount of time but requires a little strategizing or just -looks- like something that can’t be done in a single sitting tends to be avoided and then ultimately absolutely becomes something that -definitely- can’t be done in a single day just because the task was avoided, (making the task even less attractive!). Not the best cycle.

For one maybe it actually could have been done in two hours but you didn’t know exactly how you wanted to approach it, or had a perfectionistic idea of how to work on it, or wanted to find a way for it to be fully done in one sitting before even being willing to start it... trouble is, time and time again, I find myself in that loop. Basically, while I am absolutely most efficient doing something in one sitting, doing things that take more than that is outside my comfort zone, which leads me to be pessimistic about the possible outcome/time required by default, when really maybe it wouldn’t be all that bad. Basically, making things harder for yourself.

After all, people with ADD are very momentum-based people. It makes plenty of sense.

It is EASIER and HAS LESS ENERGY COST to do things in one go than it is to repeatedly return to something over time. Why? Because our brains have trouble with transitions. Transitions drain us. Meaning, the act of transitioning itself is a conscious effort that costs more energy than it does for a neurotypical person.

A really ungraceful metaphor is.. we ADD folks are like race cars and neurotypical people are like regular cars. Race cars are designed for going fast. Race cars use a round track, ok? Those are designed for race cars- beautiful! Smooth sailing. We are cars that go real fast are good at soft turns, sudden lane changes, those quick small directional shifts... momentum! Zoom zoom! Regular cars are designed for normal streets.. they’re designed for slowing down with ease, for making a full stop in not much time at all, for making that 90 degree turn at the corner. ....We ADD peeps just kind of suck at brakes. We’re not built for that! Sure, we can turn at the corner like normal cars. But we default to normal race car speed so we would have to slam the breaks like SCREEEEEEEE—- and finally make a full stop before making that turn. And, we finish that turn and have to reaccelerate back to that race car speed, and since we slowed to a stop we have to use a ton of energy to reaccelerate back to normal speed. This is a pretty good explanation for how transitioning between activities or tasks or categories feels for someone with ADD. (Or maybe we’re like.. those manual transition cars, where they stall if you do it wrong? Lol I don’t know. I don’t even know how to drive I have no business making car metaphors)

I can’t speak on ADHD folks because they are the same yet there are some differences in detail for some. For instance, my mom has ADHD. She didn’t use that word before, but my younger sibling had severe ADHD as a little kid and I identified my own ADD at age 25 or so (harder to spot as a kid when you’re daydreaming instead of squirming in your seat). So my mom now has the vocabulary and it’s strongly apparent that both my mom and my mom’s father (my grandfather) have ADHD..

.. so for my mom who has ADHD, she is absolutely a race car. But almost more in the literal sense too. She is a high speed creature. The irony of ADD is that.. ADD/ADHD people LIKE doing a lot of different things. They get distracted easily. But honestly I wouldn’t even use the word distracted. We are ATTRACTED easily. We quickly spot and are drawn to many different things. We spot something and then have to re-evaluate our original course of action to decide if we should prioritize the new exciting thing instead.

The thing about my ADHD mom is, she can transition WELL! She lives like a race car but she can make those sharp turns! She can reaccelerate fast! It doesn’t even cost energy! I swear! That damned H serves her well. She is hyper. She is energetic. (I have a limited understanding of how much this varies between ADHD folks but that is my experience observing myself next to the way my mom experiences ADHD, and my younger sibling as well to a degree). My mom is seamless at transitions.

So it’s funny because it took a long time for my ADHD mom to understand me, her ADD daughter. Because for her, she operates like I do, but... for me, I’m sluggish. Transitions are hard. It takes me a long time to speed back up after slowing down. Once I switch to a new task, it’s like I have to start my speed from 0 again and rebuild the momentum. My mom can switch from one task to another and only lose a few miles per hour in the process of deciding what she’s doing next. She can jump right in with very little delay or mental energy cost.

Granted, she is a bad listener, and scatterbrained as fuck. What she lacks in attention she makes up for in her fast transitions. Yeah maybe she’ll forget what she was doing or what is being said or will suddenly change subject without realizing you weren’t done, but ultimately it doesn’t matter because she easily and quickly can change right back to your subject, or will remember what she was doing and return back to it after a short detour- and can do so without any strain. And that is how she is different from me, and why I needed medication and she got away with not being medicated for her ADHD itself. (Some of this is also age and experience, I know school was hard but like many of us, she didn’t realize she had ADHD and that medication was out there. And now she’s reached the point where it just isn’t needed).

So now maybe you understand why you approach tasks the way you do but.. what the hell is one to do?

Something I’m finding beneficial is:

Accept and love the way you naturally approach tasks. Don’t shame yourself for wanting to do things in one sitting. Don’t shame yourself for marathoning things. Like many human quirks, it’s a skill. It can be extremely beneficial, not to mention satisfying as hell. There are ways our brains work and maybe they will shift with time but so long as you are not being destructive and are still attempting to operate within healthy boundaries (remember to eat!), why the hell not do things in the way that comes easiest?

A favorite metaphor I like to use for this is: flow around the rocks, not against them.

Sure you can slam yourself against a task by forcing yourself to segment it or spread it out or multitask like a neurotypical person could. But it’s going to take you a lot fucking longer than if you just relaxed and did it your own way.

But the kicker is, of course.. sometimes it isn’t the best way. As mentioned, it has limitations, we have weaknesses. We are prone to black and white thinking, which translates to perfectionism. Which turns into avoidance.

So how do we compliment and lift up those weak aspects of ourselves?

My input is the principle that: half-assing is not only a great choice, but is the best choice

Then you go ‘What? Pfft, easy for you to say. I’m a perfectionist not just out of habit- stuff is important to me! I’m not going to half-ass things!’ ..bear with me.

If you remember, in your head, as a baseline principle, that half-assing things is not only a great choice but is the best choice... you can make wonderful progress at side-stepping your default habit of avoidance entirely.

Flow around the rocks not against the rocks!

You see, this is something neurotypical people even know the truth in.

There’s a higher probability for you to meditate for 10 minutes a day more consistently if you commit to meditating 1 minute a day as opposed to if you commit to meditating 10 minutes no matter what... what I mean is.. Ultimately, you will spend more days in a month actually meditating for 10 minute sessions if you commit to 1 minute meditations minimum (allowing yourself that flexibility) than if you were to be rigid and force yourself to meditate for 10 minutes every day and eventually burn out.

We people with ADD are attracted to black and white thinking. That also means we’re really attracted to all-or-nothing. Which means we are attracted to and romanticize rigidity. Because in an abstract sense, rigidity highlights some of our natural skills. But in the bigger picture, it becomes like the meditation principle. Yeah sure maybe your success will look better when you meditate for 10 minutes every single day, but in the end you are actually losing more in the bigger picture. Especially for people with ADD, rigidity is attractive but has never been sustainable or realistic with consideration for human nature. Yes, we love clean-cut results. But ironically having a clean-cut or a rigid approach rarely brings clean-cut success in the bigger picture.

So we have to do things in a way that feels sort of like doing things backwards

You want to have perfect results in your life? To be reliable? To not disappoint people? To function well? To finish things? To do things well.

Half. Ass. Them.

Half-ass them. HALF-ASS THEM!

..Ok here’s a catch-phrase that will help you both remember this principle and find the concept more palatable in making it clear how it actually will be beneficial:

HALF-ASS IS BETTER THAN NO ASS

Bonus: half-ass always leads to full-ass!

In this case we want the ass. (...I better not go further with this metaphor).

Use this principle with great strength and enthusiasm towards areas of life that habitually end in avoidance. Don’t skimp! Give that task a nice big dash of half-assing it.

If you create and embrace this attitude- this really warm attitude towards yourself, an attitude of approaching your life that says... hey..! I’m not going to stress about the outcome or about the most efficient way to go about this, I’ve already said I love myself enough to half-ass this..! I’m just going to dive in! ...then you foster a life where you can become more reliable, more practiced, and more happy and functional and yet still super ADD. Happy functional ADD life skills! Instead of forcing yourself to change, learning how to work with yourself!

It goes without saying- rigidity is the enemy. Or at the very least the barrier in which we should become skilled at flowing around. Get good at dancing, get good at the dodge. Learn your natural habits and flow around the rocks. This is a method of that.

I hope this helps! Best wishes and don’t be too hard on yourself. Your life trajectory may look different than other people’s, but ultimately you end up thriving and succeeding just as much as anyone else. Allow yourself the room and the permission to do this your own way.

[everlarkbirthdaygifts]

Happy Birthday alliswell21!

Firstly, we want to apologize to @alliswell21 for the delay of her gift. We hope you had a lovely birthday on the 21st of October! To ad further cheer to your day, the wonderful @wildlyglittering has written a special Everlark fic just for you! We hope you enjoy it :)

Title: Into the Woods

Gift for: alliswell21

 Rating: M

 Trigger warnings: swearing, sexual situations

 Author’s note: I’m so sorry for the delay. I am an incredibly slow writer. Please slap my wrists for this one.

“Is that a Pumpkin Spice Latte,” murmured the voice, honeyed and low, in my ear, “or are you drinking the blood of your enemies?”

               “Ugh,” I made a sound of disgust and shrugged away from him, making sure my shoulder collided with his jaw as I moved. Great, I thought. Golden-douche is here. One hour without him was all I wanted today, just one solid hour. 

               He moved around the table to sit opposite me, completely uninvited, not that he cared, and began removing his coat. When I knew he couldn’t see I took a glance down his body and noticed that water had splashed his trousers and the coat that was now hanging on the back of his chair held a thick, woollen scent. He’d obviously been caught in the rain. I felt a sliver of mean spirited joy but hid my smile behind my mug as a I took a sip.

               “Not looking so dry, Peeta,” I said. “Did your face collide directly with a rain cloud?”

               As he sat he shook out his hair, water droplets bouncing onto the table, he grinned at me, unbothered by my comment. His arrogance probably meant he thought he still looked good. I took another quick glance, this time at his face and noted that, unfairly, he didn’t look too bad. His golden-douche hair had been turned a darker shade by the rain and his usual loose waves had begun to curl more around his ears.

               A drip on one of those newly darkened strands dripped onto the side of his face and travelled down to his jaw before he reached up to wipe it away. My brain told my eyes to stop looking.

               “Yes,” was all he said, “I suppose it’s a little wet out there.”

               My eyebrows went up. It was one of the rainiest afternoons that our District had on record and he had ventured outside in it. Peeta gave a nonchalant shrug and looked over at me and I noted how his eyes glanced down, very briefly, to my mouth as I took another sip.

               “So, Katniss, what are we doing?” This time his eyes met mine, his obnoxiously blue ones shining and I fought the urge to roll my own. On second thoughts, there were no prizes for restraint.

               “We, are doing nothing. I, am having a coffee and reading my emails. You, are interrupting me.”

               “Is that the one from Haymitch?” Before I had the chance to reply, Peeta had reached over and grabbed the paper placed in front of me. When he first found out that I liked to print out my emails and colour code the relevant text he had mocked me for days. Now though it seemed like they were useful.

               I protested at the intrusion, “Hey! I was reading that!”

               “Sorry,” he replied but didn’t seem anything of the sort. He was reading his way through the print-out and about a third of the way down he began to chew on his lip, worrying the flesh with his white teeth. That was... interesting. Peeta never showed anything other than relaxed cockiness. He must have gotten to that paragraph. The one that I’d highlighted in red which meant ‘panic.’

“Yeah,” he said. “It was shit the first time I read it and it’s still shit now.” He sighed and sat back, running a hand through his hair. Some more errant drops of water slid down his neck, trailing down the pale skin.

I snatched back the paper, the words swimming out at me, black on white. The key ones burned into my eyeballs, ‘two dumbasses,’ ‘professionalism,’ ‘working relationship,’ and worst of all, ‘off the project.’

Though I had anxiety digging a hole in stomach I wasn’t expecting Peeta to be worried so his concern came as a surprise. We’d both been sat in the downtown office when the email came through. I’d known that Haymitch was irritated and it was all down to the fairy woods set. Or more to the point, the disagreement we’d had on the set.

I knew there would be a rebuke but the email stated, in no uncertain terms, that if Peeta and I couldn’t find a way to work together then we’d both be off the project.

When I read it all I wanted to do was run, so I printed off the email, grabbed my bag and announced that I was heading to Sae’s Café. One look at Peeta’s face behind his desk gave nothing away. His calm stuck in my throat and I stormed off, the clouds matching my mood, but I made sure to grab his umbrella beside his desk before I left.

I took in Peeta’s face again and now saw the furrowing of his forehead and the way his lips drew down. I found myself saying, “I didn’t think you’d care about being off the project.”

His face smoothed itself back into a careful neutrality. “I happen,” he stated, “to love this project.” I snorted and his eyebrows shot up. “Why is that so funny exactly?”

“Well you say you love it yet you were planning on butchering it with your designs.” A muscle twitched in his jaw. “Why couldn’t you just let me lead on the woods? Everyone knows that’s my area! You were deliberately sabotaging my idea and...”

“Sabotaging!” he interrupted. “Like hell I was!” He leant forward, his jaw clenching and unclenching. “You are the best outdoor set designer, I’ll give you that, and you have an excellent eye for realism but dammit Katniss you are so goddamn stubborn! You won’t admit when you’re out of your depth and you were with this set. Frankly, you fail at anything imaginative!”

I tried to ignore the sting that came with his words. “It’s a wood.”

“It. Is. A. Fucking. Fairy. Wood.”

Here we were again. Glaring at each other and re-hashing the argument that got us into this situation in the first place. My fingers itched and I curled them into my palms. I fought the urge to stand up, grab my bag and storm off. Again.

The disdain had been simmering along at a level that we had managed to ignore but the recent argument had boiled everything over. I knew there was no return to before, if we didn’t try and resolve this we both had something to lose. It seemed that Peeta reached the same conclusion at the same time, and I watched as he rubbed a hand over his face.      

It was as though he had wiped away his frustration and I saw his face lose its hardness. “Listen,” he looked tired. “I suggest that we try and put these issues aside and find a way to work together. Hell, we’ll get Haymitch to mediate if needed.”

I pulled a face at that but thought of the email again, ‘off the project,’ floating around in the pool of my memory. I swallowed any bitter response down and nodded. That seemed to buoy Peeta and he continued talking, “We’ll apologise to Haymitch, profusely, bash out the project and then we can hate-fuck it out to celebrate. Agreed?”

“Excuse me?” My voice came out like a hiss even though a weird little thrill travelled through me. “What the actual fuck?”

The goddam shine was back in his eyes. Whatever apprehension he’d experiences had evaporated like water and he was clearly getting one last goad in. Well fine, I would bite.

“No,” I ground out. “We’ll work on this project, which by the way is based on my original design, and then you can go hate-fuck yourself and cry about it afterwards. Agreed?”

He flashed me a grin. “Well, that just doesn’t sound as fun.”

 ****

 By the time I arrived the set was a hustle of activity. I waved a hello at Rue, possibly the sweetest set runner I had ever met, and then made my way over to where I could see Haymitch and Peeta standing. It didn’t particularly look like a conversation I wanted to join with Haymitch gesticulating at something above their heads whilst Peeta frowned, hands resting on his hips.

               It looked like Peeta had been running his hands through his hair, strands of blonde waves were sticking up all over the place. But then, that’s probably exactly what he had been doing. In the three weeks since Haymitch sent his email, and after the individual chew out’s we’d received, we’d made a point to cooperate and if that meant working closer together then so be it.

               The constant contact meant I was beginning to pick up on a few of Peeta’s ‘tells.’ He was one of the calmest people I had ever met but there was an undercurrent of frustration that occasionally ran through him. This frustration, which I’d once thought was solely because of me, was based on greater things, including his never-ending sense of perfectionism. In a way I was disappointed, I didn’t know why but the idea of it being me that was getting under his skin was slightly enticing.

               Haymitch saw me approach. “About time, sweetheart,” he grumbled. “Where the hell have you been?”

               I shot him a look that hopefully conveyed exactly what I thought about that nickname. “I was dealing with Glimmer.” The ridiculously named, blonde and beautiful art director who I had to have yet another meeting with.

               “There was a meeting with cotton-for-brains and you were the one that went?” Haymitch looked incredulous. “Why the hell didn’t the boy go?”

               Out of the corner of my eye I saw Peeta frown harder, clearly just as enthused about his nickname as I was mine. Despite us getting on better I couldn’t help but squeeze a small dig in. “Because, the boy didn’t want to go.”

               Peeta stepped forward towards me. “Hey, I’d appreciate the demeaning nicknames be kept to an absolute zero, sweetheart.” He held no humour in his voice and when he met my eyes head on there was no jest there either.

               Fine. I would play. I opened my mouth to retort but Haymitch jumped in first, throwing his hands up to the ceiling. “Jesus Christ, are we fucking back to this?” He looked between us. “Do not start this again because I swear to god if you do, I will smack your heads together faster than you can say ‘over fucking budget.’”

               “You,” he pointed at Peeta, “sort out the damn trees, do it cheap, and do it now. And you,” he turned to me, jabbing a nail bitten finger my way, “do not piss Glimmer off, she’s already gunning for us for some goddamned reason and having you turn up to make good is not exactly what I would call a plan.” With a final piercing look at us both he said, “Don’t fuck this up.” I watched his back as he went.

                “Well, that was rude.”

               I turned to face Peeta. The little muscle was going in his jaw and his eyes flashed with irritation but, as quickly as it appeared, it was gone and then he was sighing and running a hand over his face. I felt a pang of sympathy for him. This project was bigger than we both originally thought and he was taking the lead on a difficult set. His blue eyes were puffy and his broad shoulders seemed to sag. The urge that I would have once had to comment on his stressed appearance was no longer there. Instead, I found myself asking, “Are you ok?”

               Peeta looked at me, eyebrows raised and I felt a blush rise to my cheeks. Why did he look so surprised? Was it unusual to ask how someone was feeling? Was it that unusual for it to be me that sked how someone was feeling. For a moment I thought he would make an acrid remark and prepared myself, feeling somehow sad that he would. But he just glanced at me, thoughtful eyes swept over my face, lingered on my pink cheeks without comment before falling to look at my lips. He quickly glanced away.

               “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Haymitch is just being... Haymitch.” He let out a little laugh. “I’ve dealt with worse.”

               “He’s a pill when he’s like this. I think I preferred it when he was drinking.”

               I saw Peeta’s eyebrows stretch up to his hairline even more. “You did not just say that.”

               “Didn’t I?” I said, feigning innocence.

               A slow, wicked grin crept onto his face. “Katniss Everdeen, such unexpected sass.” He winked at me, “I think I like it.”

               The blush that was on my cheeks burned again and the flush bloomed down my neck. You are, I thought to myself, a grown woman. Get a grip. It wouldn’t do blushing like a virgin schoolgirl and it wouldn’t do to start flirting with Peeta.

               “Yeah well,” I replied with an eye roll, “try not to.” I waved my hand towards the set, ignoring the fact that he was still looking at me and smiling. “Don’t you have to go fix some trees?”

               “I thought you were the forest expert?”

               “It’s a fairy wood, aren’t you the expert at things that aren’t real? Don’t be such a golden-douche.” It slipped out before I meant it to but my tone held no bite. I looked over at him from the corner of my eye only to see his shoulders shaking in laughter.

               “Golden-douche?”

               “Yeah,” I shrugged. “On account of your hair and your general douchebaggery.”

               “Oh... I see.” His wicked grin grew lazy and spread wider on his stupid, handsome face. “You refer to my hair as ‘golden’ huh? What do you refer to my eyes? Azure? Cerulean? How about... Sapphire?”

“And there is that general douchebaggery I was referring to.”

“Ah, Katniss,” he replied. “That hate-fuck is beginning to look more like begrudge-fuck.”

I flipped him the bird. “Go begrudge-fuck yourself,” and then I walked off, the sound of his laughter ringing like a bell in my ears.

****

 If there was anything I hated, it was being wrong.

               Months ago, I’d been sat in Haymitch’s office, pouring over the designs for the set we all hated. The fairy woods. It needed to be grandiose, it needed to be ethereal and it needed to be done on budget.

               “Katniss,” Haymitch had said to me. “There is no one here that can compare with you when it comes to nature designs, but...” and he seemed hesitant for the first time I had known him.

               “But, what?”

               “They’re dull.”

               “Dull? What the hell does that mean?!”

               He’d told me that I had a great eye for realism but fantasy elements and outside the box thinking weren’t my strengths and so they were bringing in someone from one of the other teams to work with me. That was where it had all started, Katniss Everdeen and her wounded pride.

               Receiving criticism was not my strength. Nor was giving praise. It had bothered me that we needed Peeta’s more imaginative eye but what bothered me more was that he deserved praise I had to yet to give. Not that he would have cared about what I thought, I’m sure.

               The set was nearly completed and I still hadn’t said anything. Every time we were on set I was awed at what we’d managed to achieve. The trees somehow stretched into an endless colour changing sky, the lichen on the trees glowed a deep, molten silver and gold seemed to pour out from beneath the tree bark.

               I wondered if my face took on the enthusiasm and delight of a child when I looked at it all, because that’s what I felt inside. Still, when I thought Peeta was looking I attempted chilled neutrality. It seemed that I had to do that a lot lately, attempt chilled neutrality, as I swore he was looking at me an awful lot more. Problem is, I only knew this because I was doing an awful lot of looking back.

               We’d found a strange balance along the way and as long as nothing threw off the equilibrium we would be fine. Absolutely fine. Which is why I surprised myself by doing just that.

                               The laughter I could hear across the set wasn’t Peeta’s usual booming one but was light, giggly and sounded flirty. There, deep within the woods, past a few of the silvery trees, stood Peeta and Glimmer side by side. A thought came to my mind to turn around and leave them alone, it is never a good idea to go into the woods, it only leads to disaster. But I shook the thought out, these weren’t real woods and it was only Peeta.

               I affected a look of disinterest as I approached them. “Hey,” I said.

               They both stopped talking and watched as I stepped over fake roots. Glimmer’s face slipped from pleased to pissed while the smile lines around Peeta’s eyes deepened.

               I held out the takeout cup to him, “I got you a coffee.” I made sure he could see where Sae had written ‘golden-douche’ on it. He took it with a grin and a wink and for a moment by stomach pitched downwards. “Sorry Glimmer,” I said to her, not at all sorry. “I didn’t know you were here.”

               Glimmer’s pretty pink mouth turned upwards into a saccharine, and completely fake, smile. “Not at all,” she waved a hand at me. “I was just coming to see how my favourite set designer was doing with my favourite set.”

She turned, smiling at Peeta and gave his bare arm a squeeze. I caught how her fingers trailed lightly on his skin and clutched my own coffee a bit tighter. “Katniss, I was just telling Peeta how amazing his design is and what a talent he is. Don’t you think?”

I gave a grumble behind my hot beverage barrier that sounded like an agreement.

“Well, I just added some bits to Katniss’ original design,” I heard Peeta say. “I added the fantastical elements, but if it wasn’t for her base we wouldn’t have had much of a set to work on.” His comment surprised me and I looked over to see him watching me. I offered up a small, appreciative smile and he surprised me further by offering a small - but warm - one back.

“But it’s the fantastical elements that really make it come alive,” Glimmer continued. “If we wanted normal woods we wouldn’t have needed to bring you in.” She waved a hand around the set again. “This is so much more effort than normal, boring woods, don’t you think?”

I seethed behind my coffee, steam either coming from the hot liquid or my ears. My usual conversations with her were like this, barbed comments aiming for the jugular but hidden underneath a sugary sweet tone. This was the first time that she had tried to embarrass me in front of someone, and it was Peeta no less. For some reason that made it worse.

“Glim,” I heard Peeta say, his voice low but not honeyed. “I think you should be more respectful of Katniss’ work.” I looked up and saw the smile melt off her face.

“It takes an incredible amount of effort and an observant eye to replicate reality and get it spot on. I mean, have you seen the tree bark?” Peeta gestured out to the tree next to where he was standing. “Do you know the amount of time it takes to get the texture correct? Or the colours? It’s not just brown you’re looking at, it’s the right shade of brown, and the green and silver and red.”

Glimmer’s mouth drew itself into a straight line. “Sorry Peeta, I didn’t realise that you felt that strongly about.... trees,” she looked over at me. “I have to go. I was only passing to say congratulations on a job well done. To you both.”

We watched her retreat and I let out a sigh. “You didn’t need to say all that you know. I’m a big girl. I can cope with her petty little knock-backs.”

Peeta shrugged and didn’t look at me. “Well, it was bothering me. You did just as good a job so she didn’t need to be like that.”

We stood there on the set, in the middle of the woods, in silence. Guilt started to gnaw away at me. If he could be complimentary about my work why couldn’t I just swallow my pride and say ‘well done Peeta, it looks beautiful.’ This was the moment if there ever was one. But I couldn’t. My mouth stayed shut until I decided to go ahead and ruin the balance we had earned.

“I know she didn’t but you didn’t need to defend me. I know my work is good and I don’t need you to tell her it is, it should speak for itself.”

Peeta’s mouth pursed and he spoke slowly, as though I was a child. “It does... speak for itself but I just wanted to point out the obvious to her. I think she is a little... biased and it doesn’t hurt to have someone on side.”

“I don’t need you on side.”

His eyes slid over to me and narrowed, the shining blue darkening. “What exactly,” his voice dangerously low, “is your problem here?”

I didn’t know. I didn’t know if it was because I had busted my ass on this project before Peeta turned up and he was now being hailed as some wonder boy, I didn’t know if it was because no one apart from Peeta had praised my actual contribution to the design and I was pathetically jealous and insecure. I didn’t know if it was because Peeta had called Glimmer ‘Glim’ and that she had trailed her fingers all over his skin. I didn’t know if it was because he seemed comfortable in letting her.

“She rode me hard for weeks,” was all I said. “All she did was bust me for the overspend, the design quality, how long it was taking to get the damn thing done and here she is singing your praises like I had nothing to do with anything.” I shook my head and went for the throat. “She rode me hard but honestly from the way she was panting at you I could wonder if you had been doing the same to her.”

It was a nasty comment, not meant to mean anything apart from cause hurt. I expected Peeta to protest in angry indignation and fight back. Except... he didn’t. I looked up sharply at his silence and felt a tremble of something in my stomach.

His eyes remained dark and angry and were boring into my face but his cheeks had gone a faint pink, the tips of his ears too. I watched his throat as he swallowed, the Adam’s apple bobbing.

“Oh,” I said. It came out soft. “Right.”

“Katniss...”

“No, I’m sorry I said anything.” I looked at the ground, at the fake grass, covered in fake leaves. “It’s not my business who you have relationships with.”

“We’re not in a relationship.”

“Or who you’re fucking.” I cringed as I said it.

“We’re not fucking.” He sighed, “Katniss...”

The ethereal beauty of the set now just seemed fake. All those pretty silvers and golds were just grey and yellow. The coffee tasted like mud and whatever I had with Peeta was...nothing. That was where I had gone wrong. For some reason I’d thought the growing joviality between us, the looks, the smiles, had meant more than it did. That was my fault, not his.

“I’ve got to go,” I told him. “I’m sure Haymitch wanted to have a progress update.”

Without waiting for a response from him, I walked off.

The project was almost completed, ‘we can hate-fuck it out to celebrate,’ Peeta had once said about when it was all over. At the time I’d been both angry and thrilled. Not that I wanted to hate-fuck it out at all, but if I was being honest with myself there was obviously something there that appealed to me.

I chucked my half-full coffee into the trash as I exited the studio and rolled my eyes at myself, feeling stupid. If there was anything, I said to myself, it would have been a pity-fuck. A sad, Katniss can’t get the job right, pity-fuck. I went straight home.

 ***

  It was late and I was cursing myself. Haymitch had called telling me there were problems with the meadow set and that ‘I get my ass down there first thing tomorrow morning and sort it out.’ My charming boss with his charming way with words.

               I’d rolled my eyes, confirmed I would, hung up on him and tried to enjoy the rest of my evening doing nothing at home. It was half an hour later that a sinking feeling hit my stomach. Shit, I thought. My binder wasn’t here. Racking my brains, I realised I’d left it at the last place I’d been, in the studio at the woods set.

I groaned. The meadow set was in a completely different studio halfway across the district. Trying to get from one place to the other in the morning would be impossible with the traffic. Haymitch would kill me if I wasn’t there on time but without that binder he would kill me anyway because I couldn’t fix anything without knowing what I was supposed to be fixing.

               I had one option and that was to collect the binder now. I shoved on some leggings and pulled an old sweater over my camisole thanking my stars I had the code to the building. If I was quick I could make it back in time to watch my programme before it started which was the sole highlight of my evening.

               When I arrived the night security guard recognised me and waved me in. “Busy night tonight,” he told me. “Only two of you but still, that’s busy for this time of night.”

               I frowned wondering who else was at the studio at this time of night and got my answer as soon as I pulled into a parking space. Two spaces down sat Peeta’s car. Great. I debated not going in but knew that was ridiculous. What was the point of driving all the way here to turn back empty handed? If I was lucky I could get in and out without him seeing me and if he did, well I was an adult. I was sure I could be civil.

               I wandered in, feeling nervous. I didn’t want to bump into him but then, some part of me did. We’d had that awful conversation on set three weeks ago and since then we’d gone back to playing the avoidance game. Well, I had. Peeta seemed to keep trying to talk to me but I always had a good excuse to get away.

               The studio wasn’t lit up fully but enough so that someone could make their way around the set and I wondered why Peeta was here. On the table to the side I could see my binder, all I needed to do was pick it up and leave. No one, aside from the security guard, would know I had been here. And then, for some inexplicable reason, I cleared my throat. Loudly.

               “Hello?” I heard Peeta’s voice from the set and his loud footsteps as they walked towards me. “Who’s... Katniss?”

               I turned to face him, noting his confused expression. “What are you doing here?”

               “I forgot my binder.” I picked it up and waggled it. “I need it for tomorrow, problem with the meadow set, so....”

               “Right,” he nodded. We stood opposite each other in silence.

               “What are you doing here? It’s a bit late.”

               Peeta sighed. “I honestly hate this set. I got a call from Haymitch telling me that some water damage had happened to some of the trees. God knows how, and now I’m just trying to get it sorted.”

               “This late?”

               He shrugged. “I had nothing better to do.”

               It was on the tip of my tongue to say, ‘what, not ‘Glim?’ but that was cold and unfair and completely borne from a place of my own jealously.

               “Do you want help?” My brain cursed at me.

               He seemed surprised but not unhappy and he let out a breath. “If you don’t mind?”

               “Sure.”

               We walked to the damage and I saw that some bark had begun to peel. I laughed and touched it, “It’s not at all funny but it looks just like real bark, except it’s sodden.”

               Peeta sighed again. “My wood got wet.”

               I gasped and looked over to him, “Peeta!”

               “Sorry, sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. Completely inappropriate,” but there was a small twinkle in his eyes that told me he wasn’t that sorry.

               “We could get some heaters to dry it out,” I said, turning back to the tree and choosing to ignore him, “but if we don’t know where the leak is coming from then it wouldn’t...”

               “Katniss.” He said my name with determination but I could detect a slight tremor. “I’m sorry.”

               I paused. I didn’t understand why he was apologising to me, I wasn’t too sure what he had done wrong, not really. I turned back to him. His eyes implored me to hear him out, his palms outstretched in a calming manner. “Why are you sorry?” I asked.

               “Because I think somewhere along the way I’ve screwed something up.”

               I looked down at the ground. “No, you haven’t. I just...,” I paused, not too sure how to continue. “It’s none of my business about you and Glimmer, really it isn’t.”

               “I’m not seeing her,” he said. “And I’m not sleeping with her. I have slept with her, months ago. A couple of times. There’s nothing I can do about that, it’s happened. I just don’t want you thinking that’s why I ended up on this job, that I slept my way into it. I was already on the job when Glimmer and I hooked up.”

               His statement did funny things to my stomach but it just added onto the guilt that I was already feeling. It wasn’t his fault I was a pathetic mess.

               “Peeta, shut up.”

               “Excuse me?” He laughed a little disbelievingly. “I’m apologising and you’re telling me to shut up?”

               “Yes, exactly!”

               “This is going well...”

               I shook my head. “I mean... you don’t need to apologise. I should be apologising to you.” I took a deep breath. “I don’t think you slept your way into this job, I mean, look at your design,” I gestured around us, “it’s quite obvious that you’re here because of your talent. I was jealous.”

               “Of my talent?”

               “No.” I took another deep breath. “Of Glimmer, actually.”

               It took a moment and then his face changed, confusion blended into understanding and then a soft, warm smile appeared on his face. “Oh, I see.”

               “This whole conversation is embarrassing me. I know I said I was going to help but I think I might just take my binder and go home.”

               “You know,” his voice was low and honeyed and wonderful as he stepped towards me, “I had a lot of inspiration to draw on when designing this place. An artist takes inspiration from everything.”

               I snorted, “Right, like what?”

               “Well, the gold from the trees is inspired by my hair,” he shook his head as he came closer, the blonde waves bouncing. “Obviously.”

               “Obviously, I see we’re back to being golden-douche.”

               “But hearing you talk about the woods you knew as a child really helped draw out my creative side.” He stood in front of me now and he reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. It lingered for a while as his eyes bore into mine before a fingertip trailed down my neck and onto my collar bone.

“And the silver in the trees? Well, that’s pretty special too.” His fingertip ran a pathway across my skin, tracing the bone and I shivered.

“That tickles,” I said. “But go on.”

He smiled and leant in, his broad shoulders stretched out in front of me, his blue eyes dark and delicious. The pupils were fat and black, squeezing out the colour. Peeta’s mouth was inches away from mine and all I needed to do was stand on my tiptoes and then our lips would meet.

“That particular shade was inspired by the eyes of someone who spent most of their days glaring at me.”

“I didn’t glare!”

“Who says I’m talking about you?” But he was grinning and his hands were now cupping my face, tilting it upwards to meet his. My hands dropped the binder I had been holding and I brought them up to grasp at his shirt. His chest was warm and hard beneath my palms and I clenched the material in my fingers. It was slow, how we were moving, and I just wanted to grab him and wrench him downwards.

“Peeta,” I whispered.

“Uhuh?”

“This isn’t going to be a pity kiss, is it?”

His nose was tracing a path on my temple. A slow kiss was pressed against my cheekbone. “Nope.”

“Are you sure?”

His nose skimmed across the bridge of mine to my other cheek where another kiss was planted. “Yes.”

I could hear his breathing deepen, as though being so close to me was exciting him. His body burned beneath my hands and I just wanted to slide my palms under his shirt and let them explore his skin. The thumbs that rested on either side of my face gently rubbed back and forth and it was almost ridiculous. Two adults standing in the middle of a fake fairy wood, almost kissing, but not quite. My stomach had changed its mission and swooped low in anticipation. The guilt and the jealously had long dissipated and all I wanted to do was press his hard body against mine and indulge in... something.

“Peeta?”

“Uhuh?” There was a smile on his face and I could feel it pressed against my ear.

“Didn’t you promise me a hate-fuck?”

He pulled back and I saw the shock on his face. My hands trailed down his shirt to his hips and I looped my fingers in his belt, pulling his body close to mine. My pelvis pressed against his and I slipped my hands to his backside to pull him even closer. I was being more forward than I ever had in my life. I didn’t know where this side of me had come from but I wasn’t too worried about stopping.

“I’m not going to hate-fuck you, Katniss.”

My heart dropped. It was probably for the best, we had no established relationship, we didn’t know what we were and besides, we weren’t anywhere remotely suitable. Just as I was about to pull away, Peeta’s hands left my face and skimmed down my neck, past my shoulders and down to my lower back. “That’s not to say I won’t fuck you,” he murmured.

My eyes widened as his hands slid down to my ass and pushed me in tighter to his groin. I gasped as I felt his hardness press against my pelvis and then he was bridging the gap and leaning forward to catch my lips with his own.

His were soft but insistent and they slanted over mine, pulling and sucking my lower lip between his, nibbling gently with his teeth. I groaned and shifted, tugging his hips further towards me and undulating mine against his. We pressed together and released and pressed together again, more urgent this time. His breathing grew harsher.

I pulled my mouth away, but not far. “We shouldn’t do this here.”

“Yeah, you’re right. We probably shouldn’t.” But then he was capturing my mouth again, his tongue sliding against mine, our hips flexing and pushing. I could feel his erection straining against the fly of his jeans which pressed against the thin material of my leggings. He was so hot, so hard and my heart thundered in my chest. Our hips sped up, crashing against each other and I relinquished the hold I had to do what I wanted, slide my hands under his shirt to press against his flesh.

Peeta’s hands reminded on my ass and I let him drive me into him over and over as I felt the heat of his skin on my palms. I smoothed them over his stomach and towards his back and he made a low, male sound that made my stomach swoop. His tongue left my mouth and he bent his head lower, trailing across my throat as I tipped it back, trying to breath more air into my lungs.

He smelt of Peeta and it was intoxicating. Forget air, all I wanted to do was breath him into my lungs. I whined and sunk my nails into his bare sides, hearing him grunt against the dip in my throat. “Peeta,” I said again. “We’re on set.”

He pulled back, eyes so dark they were almost black and his lips were deliciously swollen. “Do you want to stop?” he asked, but his tone made it sound as though it was the most painful question ever. Which it was.

“No, but we can’t take our time.” I glanced around quickly, worried that the security guard would come check on us at any moment.

Peeta licked his lips, my saliva clinging to them and he nodded. “Ok, so hard and fast it is.”

I made a noise, something close to a whimper and he lifted me from the ground, my legs wrapping around his waist. Our lips met again, whilst our hips met with hard and fast presses. There was no time for tenderness, not now. Peeta walked us backwards and lowered me towards the base of a fake tree.

I looked up and laughed, “At least it’s romantic in a way.”

Peeta grinned down at me. “You get to have sex in the woods.

“Oh, I’ve had sex in the woods. The real woods.”

Peeta moaned, “Don’t give me this information Everdeen. I can’t handle it right now.”

I stripped off my sweater, leaving me down to my thin camisole. “That’s no good, there’s lots I’m going to need you to handle.”

He grinned and surged forward, his hands on my waist sliding upwards as he did. The air met my bare stomach but he didn’t stop there and continued to slide the silky material up towards my bare breasts. His head bent low and captured a hardened nipple in his mouth, his tongue sliding over it whilst he rolled the other between his fingers.

I sunk my fingers into his hair, marvelling at the softness of the strands all the while marvelling at how his mouth was shooting bolts of electricity down to my core. I ground up against him and he pushed back into me, but it wasn’t enough.

Tugging at his shirt loosened it enough for his skin to be exposed and the bare flesh of our stomachs pressed together, a thin sheen of sweat accumulating.

“Peeta,” I gasped out, digging my fingers into his back once again. If my nail hurt him, he didn’t let on.

               He released a wet nipple with a pop, “What do you need?” he panted. “Tell me.”

               “You said hard and fast.” I flopped back to the ground as he sat up and I grasped at his body like mine was starving.

               A growl emerged from his throat and then he was grabbing at his belt, his fingers making quick work of the buckles and dragging his jeans and underwear down just enough to release his erection. With haste I yanked at my own clothing, pulling down my leggings and own underwear in one swift motion, managing to pull it free of one leg completely while it dangled off the other.

               My chest heaved and I watched his face as he looked towards where my spread legs met. What a sight I must have been. Camisole pushed up to bear my breasts and my centre spread out for him to see. As he looked at me I looked at him. Thick, muscular thighs and a toned stomach. Dark blonde hair trailed down from his belly button to his groin and there, something else thick and hard jutted out.

“Fuck, Katniss!” I heard him say, but the words were faint to my dizzy mind. His fingers trailed down to my core and dipped between my folds. I groaned and arched my back at his touch. A thick finger slid into my body, the slick wetness welcoming him. It was soon joined by another and I could feel my body stretch to accommodate. Peeta moved them, pumping slowly in and out and I tried to grab his cock but it was too far out of reach. A thumb was pressed against my clit and I could feel little stars shoot behind my eyes.

Whilst one hand moved between my legs another went back to my breast and continued to pluck the nipple. I could feel the pressure beginning to build in my stomach, my neck and back arched as far as they could go, my legs stretching wider and wider. I deaf to everything aside from the noises I was making and the harshness of my breaths. In the distance of my hearing I could make out Peeta’s noises of encouragement, his appreciation of how wet, how warm I was.

The pressure reached eruption and I yelled out Peeta’s name, my legs and arms squirming underneath him, my body clenching around his fingers as more wetness flooded out of me. As the quakes dimmed and my body twitched I felt Peeta remove his fingers and bend over me.

“Katniss,” he murmured and I could feel him press his hardness against my bare centre. I nodded greedily and in one movement he pushed himself inside me. A guttural noise came from us both as we joined and I clenched his shoulders and he begun to move.

We agreed on hard and fast and so that’s what Peeta gave. His hips pounded into mine and I tried to meet him thrust for thrust but could barely match his pace. I could feel him, his girth stretching me further then his fingers and he moved quickly and easily within me. The smell of our sweat and mixed arousal flooded my nose and I could feel my sweat mingle with his wherever our bare skin could touch.

Peeta’s hands gripped my knees and he suddenly sat up, his thighs, still glad in rough denim, splaying mine further as he continued to piston into my body. His face and neck had gone a deep red from exertion. “Katniss,” he grunted. “I’m close.”

I arched my back again and grabbed at my own breasts and Peeta’s eyes couldn’t seem to settle on one place, switching between my face, breasts and the place where our bodies were joining. With one last thrust, I heard him swear and then he was coming and holding himself over me, trying not to collapse.

“Shit.” He withdrew and flopped to the ground next to me and we just lay there, half undressed and completely dishevelled. I turned to look at him as our breathing evened out, our chests still rising and falling quickly.

My hand reached out and touched his hair which was now darkening from sweat. I let out a little giggle at seeing the strands curl more towards his ears.

               He looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “Something funny?”

               “Not really, just when you joked about hate-fucking me all those weeks ago your hair looked a little like this then too.”

“As I recall someone stole my umbrella.”

               “As I recall someone ventured out in the rain without one.”

               “You were upset. I couldn’t let you sit in Sae’s alone.”

               We lay there facing each other, underneath a fake tree in a fake wood, surrounded by silver and gold. Large, black studio lights were positioned above the tree tops.

               “I still need to grab my binder and head down to the meadow tomorrow. Ugh.” I sat up, reluctant to leave but knowing we couldn’t stay like this.

               “Hmm.” Peeta sat up too and we both begun re-dressing. “The meadow you say? We should probably add that to the list.”

               “There’s a list?” I asked him.

               He shrugged, “Well there is now. Ok, so hate-fuck isn’t going to make it...”

               “Isn’t it?”

               Peeta gave me a look, one that said ‘you know it isn’t.’ “...but it doesn’t mean that we can’t add others on.”

               “Oh,” I said, “what else is on the list?”

               Peeta stood and helped me up. At least sex in fake woods meant that twigs didn’t end up in our hair. “Well we can cross off fake woods but we need to add in real woods.”

Ah, I thought, best prepare for the twigs. “What else?” I asked him, feeling a tingle at where all this was going.

He smiled at me. There was a lovely pink flush on his face, his hair was in complete disarray and his belt hadn’t been successfully looped back correctly.

“When Katniss Everdeen realises how mad about her I am - sex,” he replied and he bent down to kiss me.

[marie85marketing]

The Non-Perfectionist’s Guide to Noteworthy Blogging for Your Business

The fear of criticism …

It can certainly discourage you from writing in the first place, and it also can disguise itself as perfectionism when you do attempt to create content for your business.

If you delay publishing your writing — while you try to improve your content before anyone else reads it — you are likely trying to avoid criticism.

The false belief associated with perfectionism is that if everything is “just right,” you’ll protect yourself from someone pointing out something you did wrong or something they don’t like (which is impossible to control).

The pivotal word in the sentence above is “false.” In the pursuit of perfection, you both perpetuate a false belief and prevent yourself from being as prolific of a writer as you could be.

So, how do noteworthy business blogs gain recognition for their remarkable writing without the perils of perfectionism?

Face your true challenge (it’s not criticism)

Let’s imagine a scenario where no one criticizes your writing.

It’s not that far-fetched of a concept because it happens on many blogs every single day … blogs no one reads.

The downside of a lack of criticism is that your blog probably doesn’t have a substantial number of readers yet or your content doesn’t meaningfully impact the people it does reach.

Criticism can be unpleasant, but it’s not the most harmful thing for your blog. Obscurity is.

The non-perfectionist knows …

When you create content that isn’t boring and forgettable, there will always be someone who doesn’t like what you do.

Keep creating anyway.

Embrace “good enough”

A lot of people say “there’s no such thing as ‘perfect.’”

Here’s how I like to elaborate on that idea:

When you’re passionate about your work, aiming for “perfect” may be necessary. But what you end up with is even better than “perfect” … because it’s a creation you’ve made that no one can take away from you.

You can care about quality and produce meaningful work without driving yourself crazy.

If you never publish anything because you’re worried about making it perfect, you never get to experience the benefits of having your writing available for others to read.

“Good enough” is not an excuse to publish sloppy or uninspired work, though.

It’s simply a marker that helps you assess when your content is ready to be published. With each new piece of content you create, you’ll have a chance to improve and fine-tune your style.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Prolific writers learn how to gauge when their final draft is “good enough.” Missteps or mistakes still might happen, despite your best efforts.

Keep creating anyway.

Build confidence

By now, we’re starting to get comfortable with inevitable things that will happen when you publish your writing:

People will disagree with you.

A typo will occasionally appear in your final draft, even though you proofread carefully.

You’ll change your mind and cringe at something you wrote a year ago.

And as you continue to get comfortable with the uncomfortable aspects of publishing, you strengthen your resilience and build your confidence.

Confidence is vital for content marketers. It’s what enables you to stand for something that matters and attract prospects who identify with your brand.

The more you produce, the less afraid you are of mistakes. Your confidence takes their power away.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Each published piece of content might not be a masterpiece.

Keep creating anyway.

Befriend your blog

Professional business blogs set and meet publishing deadlines.

That’s a lot easier when you like the topics you write about and approach your blog as an outlet to help your community.

If you don’t have readers yet, help the people you want to help even if they don’t know who you are. That’s the only way they’ll eventually discover you.

You have to start even if you don’t feel ready and before anyone is paying attention to you.

Working on one idea always leads to additional ideas for future pieces of content — and new ways to solve problems.

The practice makes you a stronger writer and a better resource for the prospects you want to attract. There’s no substitute for consistent writing practice.

As a former perfectionist who wanted to avoid criticism, it took me a long time to learn that. I actually wrote my first ebook to avoid creating a blog on my business website.

I felt comfortable putting all my perfectionist energy into writing an ebook, because once it was finished, it was finished. A blog was open-ended, and I’d have to constantly put my perfectionist energy into it. It seemed nerve-racking and overwhelming.

But when I eventually made a commitment to my blog, it was a huge step in the right direction for my business. Blog posts resonated with my ideal clients — who previously had trouble telling me apart from other service providers.

Before my business website had a blog, it’s like I was hiding. My blog not only made me visible, it made me the only reasonable choice for many prospects.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Your best writing that connects with the right prospects emerges when you’re actually doing the work. Since you start to reveal more about your point of view, will the wrong people also decide that you’re not for them? Sure.

Keep creating anyway.

Don’t save your (best) ideas

If a good idea fits into a blogger’s strategy, why would they wait to publish a post about it?

It’s typically a desire to wait until they have a bigger audience. Avoid that attitude and remember that everyone starts by serving the audience they currently have (or, when you don’t have any readers yet, the audience you aim to attract to your business).

Follow through with your idea, rather than hold off until a seemingly more ideal time.

You’ll always have a chance to write about the topic again in the future — and with new insights.

Is your blog or a different website the best fit for your idea?

As you become your own content editor, you develop skills that help determine the best place for a piece of content. And if you have an opportunity to write a guest post for a site that has a larger audience than yours, you always want to submit your best work.

The non-perfectionist knows …

It’s smart to use ideas that fit into your content marketing strategy right away, even if you wish you were already a bigger influencer.

Keep creating anyway.

Spread your most outstanding work

When you use one of your best ideas and recognize the content is special, repurpose it in different formats to reach more people.

A blog post will attract readers, but your target audience might also search for videos on YouTube. A version of that blog post that leads viewers back to your website can be put on YouTube so more people can discover and connect with your story.

If you have an outstanding product or service, you should be proud of the content you create to market it.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Even though it may be your goal to build your audience, it can be scary to expose your work to more people.

Keep creating anyway.

Noteworthy bloggers overcome perfectionism

Information is … information.

Content is your chance to creatively position information in a new way — a way that your prospects want to hear it.

Aren’t you more interested in finding the information you need from people you know, like, and trust? Those noteworthy bloggers write despite their perfectionist tendencies or fears of criticism.

So, keep creating the work that gets people to know, like, and trust you.

And publish it regularly on your website.

The post The Non-Perfectionist’s Guide to Noteworthy Blogging for Your Business appeared first on Copyblogger.

[hypertagmaster]

The Non-Perfectionist’s Guide to Noteworthy Blogging for Your Business

The fear of criticism …

It can certainly discourage you from writing in the first place, and it also can disguise itself as perfectionism when you do attempt to create content for your business.

If you delay publishing your writing — while you try to improve your content before anyone else reads it — you are likely trying to avoid criticism.

The false belief associated with perfectionism is that if everything is “just right,” you’ll protect yourself from someone pointing out something you did wrong or something they don’t like (which is impossible to control).

The pivotal word in the sentence above is “false.” In the pursuit of perfection, you both perpetuate a false belief and prevent yourself from being as prolific of a writer as you could be.

So, how do noteworthy business blogs gain recognition for their remarkable writing without the perils of perfectionism?

Face your true challenge (it’s not criticism)

Let’s imagine a scenario where no one criticizes your writing.

It’s not that far-fetched of a concept because it happens on many blogs every single day … blogs no one reads.

The downside of a lack of criticism is that your blog probably doesn’t have a substantial number of readers yet or your content doesn’t meaningfully impact the people it does reach.

Criticism can be unpleasant, but it’s not the most harmful thing for your blog. Obscurity is.

The non-perfectionist knows …

When you create content that isn’t boring and forgettable, there will always be someone who doesn’t like what you do.

Keep creating anyway.

Embrace “good enough”

A lot of people say “there’s no such thing as ‘perfect.’”

Here’s how I like to elaborate on that idea:

When you’re passionate about your work, aiming for “perfect” may be necessary. But what you end up with is even better than “perfect” … because it’s a creation you’ve made that no one can take away from you.

You can care about quality and produce meaningful work without driving yourself crazy.

If you never publish anything because you’re worried about making it perfect, you never get to experience the benefits of having your writing available for others to read.

“Good enough” is not an excuse to publish sloppy or uninspired work, though.

It’s simply a marker that helps you assess when your content is ready to be published. With each new piece of content you create, you’ll have a chance to improve and fine-tune your style.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Prolific writers learn how to gauge when their final draft is “good enough.” Missteps or mistakes still might happen, despite your best efforts.

Keep creating anyway.

Build confidence

By now, we’re starting to get comfortable with inevitable things that will happen when you publish your writing:

People will disagree with you.

A typo will occasionally appear in your final draft, even though you proofread carefully.

You’ll change your mind and cringe at something you wrote a year ago.

And as you continue to get comfortable with the uncomfortable aspects of publishing, you strengthen your resilience and build your confidence.

Confidence is vital for content marketers. It’s what enables you to stand for something that matters and attract prospects who identify with your brand.

The more you produce, the less afraid you are of mistakes. Your confidence takes their power away.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Each published piece of content might not be a masterpiece.

Keep creating anyway.

Befriend your blog

Professional business blogs set and meet publishing deadlines.

That’s a lot easier when you like the topics you write about and approach your blog as an outlet to help your community.

If you don’t have readers yet, help the people you want to help even if they don’t know who you are. That’s the only way they’ll eventually discover you.

You have to start even if you don’t feel ready and before anyone is paying attention to you.

Working on one idea always leads to additional ideas for future pieces of content — and new ways to solve problems.

The practice makes you a stronger writer and a better resource for the prospects you want to attract. There’s no substitute for consistent writing practice.

As a former perfectionist who wanted to avoid criticism, it took me a long time to learn that. I actually wrote my first ebook to avoid creating a blog on my business website.

I felt comfortable putting all my perfectionist energy into writing an ebook, because once it was finished, it was finished. A blog was open-ended, and I’d have to constantly put my perfectionist energy into it. It seemed nerve-racking and overwhelming.

But when I eventually made a commitment to my blog, it was a huge step in the right direction for my business. Blog posts resonated with my ideal clients — who previously had trouble telling me apart from other service providers.

Before my business website had a blog, it’s like I was hiding. My blog not only made me visible, it made me the only reasonable choice for many prospects.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Your best writing that connects with the right prospects emerges when you’re actually doing the work. Since you start to reveal more about your point of view, will the wrong people also decide that you’re not for them? Sure.

Keep creating anyway.

Don’t save your (best) ideas

If a good idea fits into a blogger’s strategy, why would they wait to publish a post about it?

It’s typically a desire to wait until they have a bigger audience. Avoid that attitude and remember that everyone starts by serving the audience they currently have (or, when you don’t have any readers yet, the audience you aim to attract to your business).

Follow through with your idea, rather than hold off until a seemingly more ideal time.

You’ll always have a chance to write about the topic again in the future — and with new insights.

Is your blog or a different website the best fit for your idea?

As you become your own content editor, you develop skills that help determine the best place for a piece of content. And if you have an opportunity to write a guest post for a site that has a larger audience than yours, you always want to submit your best work.

The non-perfectionist knows …

It’s smart to use ideas that fit into your content marketing strategy right away, even if you wish you were already a bigger influencer.

Keep creating anyway.

Spread your most outstanding work

When you use one of your best ideas and recognize the content is special, repurpose it in different formats to reach more people.

A blog post will attract readers, but your target audience might also search for videos on YouTube. A version of that blog post that leads viewers back to your website can be put on YouTube so more people can discover and connect with your story.

If you have an outstanding product or service, you should be proud of the content you create to market it.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Even though it may be your goal to build your audience, it can be scary to expose your work to more people.

Keep creating anyway.

Noteworthy bloggers overcome perfectionism

Information is … information.

Content is your chance to creatively position information in a new way — a way that your prospects want to hear it.

Aren’t you more interested in finding the information you need from people you know, like, and trust? Those noteworthy bloggers write despite their perfectionist tendencies or fears of criticism.

So, keep creating the work that gets people to know, like, and trust you.

And publish it regularly on your website.

The post The Non-Perfectionist’s Guide to Noteworthy Blogging for Your Business appeared first on Copyblogger.

via marketing http://ift.tt/2tVwCid

[semperfido-or-die]

The Non-Perfectionist’s Guide to Noteworthy Blogging for Your Business

The fear of criticism …

It can certainly discourage you from writing in the first place, and it also can disguise itself as perfectionism when you do attempt to create content for your business.

If you delay publishing your writing — while you try to improve your content before anyone else reads it — you are likely trying to avoid criticism.

The false belief associated with perfectionism is that if everything is “just right,” you’ll protect yourself from someone pointing out something you did wrong or something they don’t like (which is impossible to control).

The pivotal word in the sentence above is “false.” In the pursuit of perfection, you both perpetuate a false belief and prevent yourself from being as prolific of a writer as you could be.

So, how do noteworthy business blogs gain recognition for their remarkable writing without the perils of perfectionism?

Face your true challenge (it’s not criticism)

Let’s imagine a scenario where no one criticizes your writing.

It’s not that far-fetched of a concept because it happens on many blogs every single day … blogs no one reads.

The downside of a lack of criticism is that your blog probably doesn’t have a substantial number of readers yet or your content doesn’t meaningfully impact the people it does reach.

Criticism can be unpleasant, but it’s not the most harmful thing for your blog. Obscurity is.

The non-perfectionist knows …

When you create content that isn’t boring and forgettable, there will always be someone who doesn’t like what you do.

Keep creating anyway.

Embrace “good enough”

A lot of people say “there’s no such thing as ‘perfect.’”

Here’s how I like to elaborate on that idea:

When you’re passionate about your work, aiming for “perfect” may be necessary. But what you end up with is even better than “perfect” … because it’s a creation you’ve made that no one can take away from you.

You can care about quality and produce meaningful work without driving yourself crazy.

If you never publish anything because you’re worried about making it perfect, you never get to experience the benefits of having your writing available for others to read.

“Good enough” is not an excuse to publish sloppy or uninspired work, though.

It’s simply a marker that helps you assess when your content is ready to be published. With each new piece of content you create, you’ll have a chance to improve and fine-tune your style.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Prolific writers learn how to gauge when their final draft is “good enough.” Missteps or mistakes still might happen, despite your best efforts.

Keep creating anyway.

Build confidence

By now, we’re starting to get comfortable with inevitable things that will happen when you publish your writing:

People will disagree with you.

A typo will occasionally appear in your final draft, even though you proofread carefully.

You’ll change your mind and cringe at something you wrote a year ago.

And as you continue to get comfortable with the uncomfortable aspects of publishing, you strengthen your resilience and build your confidence.

Confidence is vital for content marketers. It’s what enables you to stand for something that matters and attract prospects who identify with your brand.

The more you produce, the less afraid you are of mistakes. Your confidence takes their power away.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Each published piece of content might not be a masterpiece.

Keep creating anyway.

Befriend your blog

Professional business blogs set and meet publishing deadlines.

That’s a lot easier when you like the topics you write about and approach your blog as an outlet to help your community.

If you don’t have readers yet, help the people you want to help even if they don’t know who you are. That’s the only way they’ll eventually discover you.

You have to start even if you don’t feel ready and before anyone is paying attention to you.

Working on one idea always leads to additional ideas for future pieces of content — and new ways to solve problems.

The practice makes you a stronger writer and a better resource for the prospects you want to attract. There’s no substitute for consistent writing practice.

As a former perfectionist who wanted to avoid criticism, it took me a long time to learn that. I actually wrote my first ebook to avoid creating a blog on my business website.

I felt comfortable putting all my perfectionist energy into writing an ebook, because once it was finished, it was finished. A blog was open-ended, and I’d have to constantly put my perfectionist energy into it. It seemed nerve-racking and overwhelming.

But when I eventually made a commitment to my blog, it was a huge step in the right direction for my business. Blog posts resonated with my ideal clients — who previously had trouble telling me apart from other service providers.

Before my business website had a blog, it’s like I was hiding. My blog not only made me visible, it made me the only reasonable choice for many prospects.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Your best writing that connects with the right prospects emerges when you’re actually doing the work. Since you start to reveal more about your point of view, will the wrong people also decide that you’re not for them? Sure.

Keep creating anyway.

Don’t save your (best) ideas

If a good idea fits into a blogger’s strategy, why would they wait to publish a post about it?

It’s typically a desire to wait until they have a bigger audience. Avoid that attitude and remember that everyone starts by serving the audience they currently have (or, when you don’t have any readers yet, the audience you aim to attract to your business).

Follow through with your idea, rather than hold off until a seemingly more ideal time.

You’ll always have a chance to write about the topic again in the future — and with new insights.

Is your blog or a different website the best fit for your idea?

As you become your own content editor, you develop skills that help determine the best place for a piece of content. And if you have an opportunity to write a guest post for a site that has a larger audience than yours, you always want to submit your best work.

The non-perfectionist knows …

It’s smart to use ideas that fit into your content marketing strategy right away, even if you wish you were already a bigger influencer.

Keep creating anyway.

Spread your most outstanding work

When you use one of your best ideas and recognize the content is special, repurpose it in different formats to reach more people.

A blog post will attract readers, but your target audience might also search for videos on YouTube. A version of that blog post that leads viewers back to your website can be put on YouTube so more people can discover and connect with your story.

If you have an outstanding product or service, you should be proud of the content you create to market it.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Even though it may be your goal to build your audience, it can be scary to expose your work to more people.

Keep creating anyway.

Noteworthy bloggers overcome perfectionism

Information is … information.

Content is your chance to creatively position information in a new way — a way that your prospects want to hear it.

Aren’t you more interested in finding the information you need from people you know, like, and trust? Those noteworthy bloggers write despite their perfectionist tendencies or fears of criticism.

So, keep creating the work that gets people to know, like, and trust you.

And publish it regularly on your website.

The post The Non-Perfectionist’s Guide to Noteworthy Blogging for Your Business appeared first on Copyblogger.

from Copyblogger http://ift.tt/2tVwCid via IFTTT

[nathandgibsca]

The Non-Perfectionist’s Guide to Noteworthy Blogging for Your Business

The fear of criticism …

It can certainly discourage you from writing in the first place, and it also can disguise itself as perfectionism when you do attempt to create content for your business.

If you delay publishing your writing — while you try to improve your content before anyone else reads it — you are likely trying to avoid criticism.

The false belief associated with perfectionism is that if everything is “just right,” you’ll protect yourself from someone pointing out something you did wrong or something they don’t like (which is impossible to control).

The pivotal word in the sentence above is “false.” In the pursuit of perfection, you both perpetuate a false belief and prevent yourself from being as prolific of a writer as you could be.

So, how do noteworthy business blogs gain recognition for their remarkable writing without the perils of perfectionism?

Face your true challenge (it’s not criticism)

Let’s imagine a scenario where no one criticizes your writing.

It’s not that far-fetched of a concept because it happens on many blogs every single day … blogs no one reads.

The downside of a lack of criticism is that your blog probably doesn’t have a substantial number of readers yet or your content doesn’t meaningfully impact the people it does reach.

Criticism can be unpleasant, but it’s not the most harmful thing for your blog. Obscurity is.

The non-perfectionist knows …

When you create content that isn’t boring and forgettable, there will always be someone who doesn’t like what you do.

Keep creating anyway.

Embrace “good enough”

A lot of people say “there’s no such thing as ‘perfect.’”

Here’s how I like to elaborate on that idea:

When you’re passionate about your work, aiming for “perfect” may be necessary. But what you end up with is even better than “perfect” … because it’s a creation you’ve made that no one can take away from you.

You can care about quality and produce meaningful work without driving yourself crazy.

If you never publish anything because you’re worried about making it perfect, you never get to experience the benefits of having your writing available for others to read.

“Good enough” is not an excuse to publish sloppy or uninspired work, though.

It’s simply a marker that helps you assess when your content is ready to be published. With each new piece of content you create, you’ll have a chance to improve and fine-tune your style.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Prolific writers learn how to gauge when their final draft is “good enough.” Missteps or mistakes still might happen, despite your best efforts.

Keep creating anyway.

Build confidence

By now, we’re starting to get comfortable with inevitable things that will happen when you publish your writing:

People will disagree with you.

A typo will occasionally appear in your final draft, even though you proofread carefully.

You’ll change your mind and cringe at something you wrote a year ago.

And as you continue to get comfortable with the uncomfortable aspects of publishing, you strengthen your resilience and build your confidence.

Confidence is vital for content marketers. It’s what enables you to stand for something that matters and attract prospects who identify with your brand.

The more you produce, the less afraid you are of mistakes. Your confidence takes their power away.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Each published piece of content might not be a masterpiece.

Keep creating anyway.

Befriend your blog

Professional business blogs set and meet publishing deadlines.

That’s a lot easier when you like the topics you write about and approach your blog as an outlet to help your community.

If you don’t have readers yet, help the people you want to help even if they don’t know who you are. That’s the only way they’ll eventually discover you.

You have to start even if you don’t feel ready and before anyone is paying attention to you.

Working on one idea always leads to additional ideas for future pieces of content — and new ways to solve problems.

The practice makes you a stronger writer and a better resource for the prospects you want to attract. There’s no substitute for consistent writing practice.

As a former perfectionist who wanted to avoid criticism, it took me a long time to learn that. I actually wrote my first ebook to avoid creating a blog on my business website.

I felt comfortable putting all my perfectionist energy into writing an ebook, because once it was finished, it was finished. A blog was open-ended, and I’d have to constantly put my perfectionist energy into it. It seemed nerve-racking and overwhelming.

But when I eventually made a commitment to my blog, it was a huge step in the right direction for my business. Blog posts resonated with my ideal clients — who previously had trouble telling me apart from other service providers.

Before my business website had a blog, it’s like I was hiding. My blog not only made me visible, it made me the only reasonable choice for many prospects.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Your best writing that connects with the right prospects emerges when you’re actually doing the work. Since you start to reveal more about your point of view, will the wrong people also decide that you’re not for them? Sure.

Keep creating anyway.

Don’t save your (best) ideas

If a good idea fits into a blogger’s strategy, why would they wait to publish a post about it?

It’s typically a desire to wait until they have a bigger audience. Avoid that attitude and remember that everyone starts by serving the audience they currently have (or, when you don’t have any readers yet, the audience you aim to attract to your business).

Follow through with your idea, rather than hold off until a seemingly more ideal time.

You’ll always have a chance to write about the topic again in the future — and with new insights.

Is your blog or a different website the best fit for your idea?

As you become your own content editor, you develop skills that help determine the best place for a piece of content. And if you have an opportunity to write a guest post for a site that has a larger audience than yours, you always want to submit your best work.

The non-perfectionist knows …

It’s smart to use ideas that fit into your content marketing strategy right away, even if you wish you were already a bigger influencer.

Keep creating anyway.

Spread your most outstanding work

When you use one of your best ideas and recognize the content is special, repurpose it in different formats to reach more people.

A blog post will attract readers, but your target audience might also search for videos on YouTube. A version of that blog post that leads viewers back to your website can be put on YouTube so more people can discover and connect with your story.

If you have an outstanding product or service, you should be proud of the content you create to market it.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Even though it may be your goal to build your audience, it can be scary to expose your work to more people.

Keep creating anyway.

Noteworthy bloggers overcome perfectionism

Information is … information.

Content is your chance to creatively position information in a new way — a way that your prospects want to hear it.

Aren’t you more interested in finding the information you need from people you know, like, and trust? Those noteworthy bloggers write despite their perfectionist tendencies or fears of criticism.

So, keep creating the work that gets people to know, like, and trust you.

And publish it regularly on your website.

The post The Non-Perfectionist’s Guide to Noteworthy Blogging for Your Business appeared first on Copyblogger.

from SEO Tips http://www.copyblogger.com/blogging-for-your-business/

[goldieseoservices]

The Non-Perfectionist’s Guide to Noteworthy Blogging for Your Business

The fear of criticism …

It can certainly discourage you from writing in the first place, and it also can disguise itself as perfectionism when you do attempt to create content for your business.

If you delay publishing your writing — while you try to improve your content before anyone else reads it — you are likely trying to avoid criticism.

The false belief associated with perfectionism is that if everything is “just right,” you’ll protect yourself from someone pointing out something you did wrong or something they don’t like (which is impossible to control).

The pivotal word in the sentence above is “false.” In the pursuit of perfection, you both perpetuate a false belief and prevent yourself from being as prolific of a writer as you could be.

So, how do noteworthy business blogs gain recognition for their remarkable writing without the perils of perfectionism?

Face your true challenge (it’s not criticism)

Let’s imagine a scenario where no one criticizes your writing.

It’s not that far-fetched of a concept because it happens on many blogs every single day … blogs no one reads.

The downside of a lack of criticism is that your blog probably doesn’t have a substantial number of readers yet or your content doesn’t meaningfully impact the people it does reach.

Criticism can be unpleasant, but it’s not the most harmful thing for your blog. Obscurity is.

The non-perfectionist knows …

When you create content that isn’t boring and forgettable, there will always be someone who doesn’t like what you do.

Keep creating anyway.

Embrace “good enough”

A lot of people say “there’s no such thing as ‘perfect.’”

Here’s how I like to elaborate on that idea:

When you’re passionate about your work, aiming for “perfect” may be necessary. But what you end up with is even better than “perfect” … because it’s a creation you’ve made that no one can take away from you.

You can care about quality and produce meaningful work without driving yourself crazy.

If you never publish anything because you’re worried about making it perfect, you never get to experience the benefits of having your writing available for others to read.

“Good enough” is not an excuse to publish sloppy or uninspired work, though.

It’s simply a marker that helps you assess when your content is ready to be published. With each new piece of content you create, you’ll have a chance to improve and fine-tune your style.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Prolific writers learn how to gauge when their final draft is “good enough.” Missteps or mistakes still might happen, despite your best efforts.

Keep creating anyway.

Build confidence

By now, we’re starting to get comfortable with inevitable things that will happen when you publish your writing:

People will disagree with you.

A typo will occasionally appear in your final draft, even though you proofread carefully.

You’ll change your mind and cringe at something you wrote a year ago.

And as you continue to get comfortable with the uncomfortable aspects of publishing, you strengthen your resilience and build your confidence.

Confidence is vital for content marketers. It’s what enables you to stand for something that matters and attract prospects who identify with your brand.

The more you produce, the less afraid you are of mistakes. Your confidence takes their power away.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Each published piece of content might not be a masterpiece.

Keep creating anyway.

Befriend your blog

Professional business blogs set and meet publishing deadlines.

That’s a lot easier when you like the topics you write about and approach your blog as an outlet to help your community.

If you don’t have readers yet, help the people you want to help even if they don’t know who you are. That’s the only way they’ll eventually discover you.

You have to start even if you don’t feel ready and before anyone is paying attention to you.

Working on one idea always leads to additional ideas for future pieces of content — and new ways to solve problems.

The practice makes you a stronger writer and a better resource for the prospects you want to attract. There’s no substitute for consistent writing practice.

As a former perfectionist who wanted to avoid criticism, it took me a long time to learn that. I actually wrote my first ebook to avoid creating a blog on my business website.

I felt comfortable putting all my perfectionist energy into writing an ebook, because once it was finished, it was finished. A blog was open-ended, and I’d have to constantly put my perfectionist energy into it. It seemed nerve-racking and overwhelming.

But when I eventually made a commitment to my blog, it was a huge step in the right direction for my business. Blog posts resonated with my ideal clients — who previously had trouble telling me apart from other service providers.

Before my business website had a blog, it’s like I was hiding. My blog not only made me visible, it made me the only reasonable choice for many prospects.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Your best writing that connects with the right prospects emerges when you’re actually doing the work. Since you start to reveal more about your point of view, will the wrong people also decide that you’re not for them? Sure.

Keep creating anyway.

Don’t save your (best) ideas

If a good idea fits into a blogger’s strategy, why would they wait to publish a post about it?

It’s typically a desire to wait until they have a bigger audience. Avoid that attitude and remember that everyone starts by serving the audience they currently have (or, when you don’t have any readers yet, the audience you aim to attract to your business).

Follow through with your idea, rather than hold off until a seemingly more ideal time.

You’ll always have a chance to write about the topic again in the future — and with new insights.

Is your blog or a different website the best fit for your idea?

As you become your own content editor, you develop skills that help determine the best place for a piece of content. And if you have an opportunity to write a guest post for a site that has a larger audience than yours, you always want to submit your best work.

The non-perfectionist knows …

It’s smart to use ideas that fit into your content marketing strategy right away, even if you wish you were already a bigger influencer.

Keep creating anyway.

Spread your most outstanding work

When you use one of your best ideas and recognize the content is special, repurpose it in different formats to reach more people.

A blog post will attract readers, but your target audience might also search for videos on YouTube. A version of that blog post that leads viewers back to your website can be put on YouTube so more people can discover and connect with your story.

If you have an outstanding product or service, you should be proud of the content you create to market it.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Even though it may be your goal to build your audience, it can be scary to expose your work to more people.

Keep creating anyway.

Noteworthy bloggers overcome perfectionism

Information is … information.

Content is your chance to creatively position information in a new way — a way that your prospects want to hear it.

Aren’t you more interested in finding the information you need from people you know, like, and trust? Those noteworthy bloggers write despite their perfectionist tendencies or fears of criticism.

So, keep creating the work that gets people to know, like, and trust you.

And publish it regularly on your website.

The post The Non-Perfectionist’s Guide to Noteworthy Blogging for Your Business appeared first on Copyblogger.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2uRNd9D

[seo78580]

The Non-Perfectionist’s Guide to Noteworthy Blogging for Your Business

The fear of criticism …

It can certainly discourage you from writing in the first place, and it also can disguise itself as perfectionism when you do attempt to create content for your business.

If you delay publishing your writing — while you try to improve your content before anyone else reads it — you are likely trying to avoid criticism.

The false belief associated with perfectionism is that if everything is “just right,” you’ll protect yourself from someone pointing out something you did wrong or something they don’t like (which is impossible to control).

The pivotal word in the sentence above is “false.” In the pursuit of perfection, you both perpetuate a false belief and prevent yourself from being as prolific of a writer as you could be.

So, how do noteworthy business blogs gain recognition for their remarkable writing without the perils of perfectionism?

Face your true challenge (it’s not criticism)

Let’s imagine a scenario where no one criticizes your writing.

It’s not that far-fetched of a concept because it happens on many blogs every single day … blogs no one reads.

The downside of a lack of criticism is that your blog probably doesn’t have a substantial number of readers yet or your content doesn’t meaningfully impact the people it does reach.

Criticism can be unpleasant, but it’s not the most harmful thing for your blog. Obscurity is.

The non-perfectionist knows …

When you create content that isn’t boring and forgettable, there will always be someone who doesn’t like what you do.

Keep creating anyway.

Embrace “good enough”

A lot of people say “there’s no such thing as ‘perfect.’”

Here’s how I like to elaborate on that idea:

When you’re passionate about your work, aiming for “perfect” may be necessary. But what you end up with is even better than “perfect” … because it’s a creation you’ve made that no one can take away from you.

You can care about quality and produce meaningful work without driving yourself crazy.

If you never publish anything because you’re worried about making it perfect, you never get to experience the benefits of having your writing available for others to read.

“Good enough” is not an excuse to publish sloppy or uninspired work, though.

It’s simply a marker that helps you assess when your content is ready to be published. With each new piece of content you create, you’ll have a chance to improve and fine-tune your style.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Prolific writers learn how to gauge when their final draft is “good enough.” Missteps or mistakes still might happen, despite your best efforts.

Keep creating anyway.

Build confidence

By now, we’re starting to get comfortable with inevitable things that will happen when you publish your writing:

People will disagree with you.

A typo will occasionally appear in your final draft, even though you proofread carefully.

You’ll change your mind and cringe at something you wrote a year ago.

And as you continue to get comfortable with the uncomfortable aspects of publishing, you strengthen your resilience and build your confidence.

Confidence is vital for content marketers. It’s what enables you to stand for something that matters and attract prospects who identify with your brand.

The more you produce, the less afraid you are of mistakes. Your confidence takes their power away.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Each published piece of content might not be a masterpiece.

Keep creating anyway.

Befriend your blog

Professional business blogs set and meet publishing deadlines.

That’s a lot easier when you like the topics you write about and approach your blog as an outlet to help your community.

If you don’t have readers yet, help the people you want to help even if they don’t know who you are. That’s the only way they’ll eventually discover you.

You have to start even if you don’t feel ready and before anyone is paying attention to you.

Working on one idea always leads to additional ideas for future pieces of content — and new ways to solve problems.

The practice makes you a stronger writer and a better resource for the prospects you want to attract. There’s no substitute for consistent writing practice.

As a former perfectionist who wanted to avoid criticism, it took me a long time to learn that. I actually wrote my first ebook to avoid creating a blog on my business website.

I felt comfortable putting all my perfectionist energy into writing an ebook, because once it was finished, it was finished. A blog was open-ended, and I’d have to constantly put my perfectionist energy into it. It seemed nerve-racking and overwhelming.

But when I eventually made a commitment to my blog, it was a huge step in the right direction for my business. Blog posts resonated with my ideal clients — who previously had trouble telling me apart from other service providers.

Before my business website had a blog, it’s like I was hiding. My blog not only made me visible, it made me the only reasonable choice for many prospects.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Your best writing that connects with the right prospects emerges when you’re actually doing the work. Since you start to reveal more about your point of view, will the wrong people also decide that you’re not for them? Sure.

Keep creating anyway.

Don’t save your (best) ideas

If a good idea fits into a blogger’s strategy, why would they wait to publish a post about it?

It’s typically a desire to wait until they have a bigger audience. Avoid that attitude and remember that everyone starts by serving the audience they currently have (or, when you don’t have any readers yet, the audience you aim to attract to your business).

Follow through with your idea, rather than hold off until a seemingly more ideal time.

You’ll always have a chance to write about the topic again in the future — and with new insights.

Is your blog or a different website the best fit for your idea?

As you become your own content editor, you develop skills that help determine the best place for a piece of content. And if you have an opportunity to write a guest post for a site that has a larger audience than yours, you always want to submit your best work.

The non-perfectionist knows …

It’s smart to use ideas that fit into your content marketing strategy right away, even if you wish you were already a bigger influencer.

Keep creating anyway.

Spread your most outstanding work

When you use one of your best ideas and recognize the content is special, repurpose it in different formats to reach more people.

A blog post will attract readers, but your target audience might also search for videos on YouTube. A version of that blog post that leads viewers back to your website can be put on YouTube so more people can discover and connect with your story.

If you have an outstanding product or service, you should be proud of the content you create to market it.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Even though it may be your goal to build your audience, it can be scary to expose your work to more people.

Keep creating anyway.

Noteworthy bloggers overcome perfectionism

Information is … information.

Content is your chance to creatively position information in a new way — a way that your prospects want to hear it.

Aren’t you more interested in finding the information you need from people you know, like, and trust? Those noteworthy bloggers write despite their perfectionist tendencies or fears of criticism.

So, keep creating the work that gets people to know, like, and trust you.

And publish it regularly on your website.

The post The Non-Perfectionist’s Guide to Noteworthy Blogging for Your Business appeared first on Copyblogger.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2uRNd9D

[soph28collins]

The Non-Perfectionist’s Guide to Noteworthy Blogging for Your Business

The fear of criticism …

It can certainly discourage you from writing in the first place, and it also can disguise itself as perfectionism when you do attempt to create content for your business.

If you delay publishing your writing — while you try to improve your content before anyone else reads it — you are likely trying to avoid criticism.

The false belief associated with perfectionism is that if everything is “just right,” you’ll protect yourself from someone pointing out something you did wrong or something they don’t like (which is impossible to control).

The pivotal word in the sentence above is “false.” In the pursuit of perfection, you both perpetuate a false belief and prevent yourself from being as prolific of a writer as you could be.

So, how do noteworthy business blogs gain recognition for their remarkable writing without the perils of perfectionism?

Face your true challenge (it’s not criticism)

Let’s imagine a scenario where no one criticizes your writing.

It’s not that far-fetched of a concept because it happens on many blogs every single day … blogs no one reads.

The downside of a lack of criticism is that your blog probably doesn’t have a substantial number of readers yet or your content doesn’t meaningfully impact the people it does reach.

Criticism can be unpleasant, but it’s not the most harmful thing for your blog. Obscurity is.

The non-perfectionist knows …

When you create content that isn’t boring and forgettable, there will always be someone who doesn’t like what you do.

Keep creating anyway.

Embrace “good enough”

A lot of people say “there’s no such thing as ‘perfect.’”

Here’s how I like to elaborate on that idea:

When you’re passionate about your work, aiming for “perfect” may be necessary. But what you end up with is even better than “perfect” … because it’s a creation you’ve made that no one can take away from you.

You can care about quality and produce meaningful work without driving yourself crazy.

If you never publish anything because you’re worried about making it perfect, you never get to experience the benefits of having your writing available for others to read.

“Good enough” is not an excuse to publish sloppy or uninspired work, though.

It’s simply a marker that helps you assess when your content is ready to be published. With each new piece of content you create, you’ll have a chance to improve and fine-tune your style.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Prolific writers learn how to gauge when their final draft is “good enough.” Missteps or mistakes still might happen, despite your best efforts.

Keep creating anyway.

Build confidence

By now, we’re starting to get comfortable with inevitable things that will happen when you publish your writing:

People will disagree with you.

A typo will occasionally appear in your final draft, even though you proofread carefully.

You’ll change your mind and cringe at something you wrote a year ago.

And as you continue to get comfortable with the uncomfortable aspects of publishing, you strengthen your resilience and build your confidence.

Confidence is vital for content marketers. It’s what enables you to stand for something that matters and attract prospects who identify with your brand.

The more you produce, the less afraid you are of mistakes. Your confidence takes their power away.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Each published piece of content might not be a masterpiece.

Keep creating anyway.

Befriend your blog

Professional business blogs set and meet publishing deadlines.

That’s a lot easier when you like the topics you write about and approach your blog as an outlet to help your community.

If you don’t have readers yet, help the people you want to help even if they don’t know who you are. That’s the only way they’ll eventually discover you.

You have to start even if you don’t feel ready and before anyone is paying attention to you.

Working on one idea always leads to additional ideas for future pieces of content — and new ways to solve problems.

The practice makes you a stronger writer and a better resource for the prospects you want to attract. There’s no substitute for consistent writing practice.

As a former perfectionist who wanted to avoid criticism, it took me a long time to learn that. I actually wrote my first ebook to avoid creating a blog on my business website.

I felt comfortable putting all my perfectionist energy into writing an ebook, because once it was finished, it was finished. A blog was open-ended, and I’d have to constantly put my perfectionist energy into it. It seemed nerve-racking and overwhelming.

But when I eventually made a commitment to my blog, it was a huge step in the right direction for my business. Blog posts resonated with my ideal clients — who previously had trouble telling me apart from other service providers.

Before my business website had a blog, it’s like I was hiding. My blog not only made me visible, it made me the only reasonable choice for many prospects.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Your best writing that connects with the right prospects emerges when you’re actually doing the work. Since you start to reveal more about your point of view, will the wrong people also decide that you’re not for them? Sure.

Keep creating anyway.

Don’t save your (best) ideas

If a good idea fits into a blogger’s strategy, why would they wait to publish a post about it?

It’s typically a desire to wait until they have a bigger audience. Avoid that attitude and remember that everyone starts by serving the audience they currently have (or, when you don’t have any readers yet, the audience you aim to attract to your business).

Follow through with your idea, rather than hold off until a seemingly more ideal time.

You’ll always have a chance to write about the topic again in the future — and with new insights.

Is your blog or a different website the best fit for your idea?

As you become your own content editor, you develop skills that help determine the best place for a piece of content. And if you have an opportunity to write a guest post for a site that has a larger audience than yours, you always want to submit your best work.

The non-perfectionist knows …

It’s smart to use ideas that fit into your content marketing strategy right away, even if you wish you were already a bigger influencer.

Keep creating anyway.

Spread your most outstanding work

When you use one of your best ideas and recognize the content is special, repurpose it in different formats to reach more people.

A blog post will attract readers, but your target audience might also search for videos on YouTube. A version of that blog post that leads viewers back to your website can be put on YouTube so more people can discover and connect with your story.

If you have an outstanding product or service, you should be proud of the content you create to market it.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Even though it may be your goal to build your audience, it can be scary to expose your work to more people.

Keep creating anyway.

Noteworthy bloggers overcome perfectionism

Information is … information.

Content is your chance to creatively position information in a new way — a way that your prospects want to hear it.

Aren’t you more interested in finding the information you need from people you know, like, and trust? Those noteworthy bloggers write despite their perfectionist tendencies or fears of criticism.

So, keep creating the work that gets people to know, like, and trust you.

And publish it regularly on your website.

The post The Non-Perfectionist’s Guide to Noteworthy Blogging for Your Business appeared first on Copyblogger.

from Copyblogger http://www.copyblogger.com/blogging-for-your-business/

[annegalliher]

The Non-Perfectionist’s Guide to Noteworthy Blogging for Your Business

The fear of criticism …

It can certainly discourage you from writing in the first place, and it also can disguise itself as perfectionism when you do attempt to create content for your business.

If you delay publishing your writing — while you try to improve your content before anyone else reads it — you are likely trying to avoid criticism.

The false belief associated with perfectionism is that if everything is “just right,” you’ll protect yourself from someone pointing out something you did wrong or something they don’t like (which is impossible to control).

The pivotal word in the sentence above is “false.” In the pursuit of perfection, you both perpetuate a false belief and prevent yourself from being as prolific of a writer as you could be.

So, how do noteworthy business blogs gain recognition for their remarkable writing without the perils of perfectionism?

Face your true challenge (it’s not criticism)

Let’s imagine a scenario where no one criticizes your writing.

It’s not that far-fetched of a concept because it happens on many blogs every single day … blogs no one reads.

The downside of a lack of criticism is that your blog probably doesn’t have a substantial number of readers yet or your content doesn’t meaningfully impact the people it does reach.

Criticism can be unpleasant, but it’s not the most harmful thing for your blog. Obscurity is.

The non-perfectionist knows …

When you create content that isn’t boring and forgettable, there will always be someone who doesn’t like what you do.

Keep creating anyway.

Embrace “good enough”

A lot of people say “there’s no such thing as ‘perfect.’”

Here’s how I like to elaborate on that idea:

When you’re passionate about your work, aiming for “perfect” may be necessary. But what you end up with is even better than “perfect” … because it’s a creation you’ve made that no one can take away from you.

You can care about quality and produce meaningful work without driving yourself crazy.

If you never publish anything because you’re worried about making it perfect, you never get to experience the benefits of having your writing available for others to read.

“Good enough” is not an excuse to publish sloppy or uninspired work, though.

It’s simply a marker that helps you assess when your content is ready to be published. With each new piece of content you create, you’ll have a chance to improve and fine-tune your style.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Prolific writers learn how to gauge when their final draft is “good enough.” Missteps or mistakes still might happen, despite your best efforts.

Keep creating anyway.

Build confidence

By now, we’re starting to get comfortable with inevitable things that will happen when you publish your writing:

People will disagree with you.

A typo will occasionally appear in your final draft, even though you proofread carefully.

You’ll change your mind and cringe at something you wrote a year ago.

And as you continue to get comfortable with the uncomfortable aspects of publishing, you strengthen your resilience and build your confidence.

Confidence is vital for content marketers. It’s what enables you to stand for something that matters and attract prospects who identify with your brand.

The more you produce, the less afraid you are of mistakes. Your confidence takes their power away.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Each published piece of content might not be a masterpiece.

Keep creating anyway.

Befriend your blog

Professional business blogs set and meet publishing deadlines.

That’s a lot easier when you like the topics you write about and approach your blog as an outlet to help your community.

If you don’t have readers yet, help the people you want to help even if they don’t know who you are. That’s the only way they’ll eventually discover you.

You have to start even if you don’t feel ready and before anyone is paying attention to you.

Working on one idea always leads to additional ideas for future pieces of content — and new ways to solve problems.

The practice makes you a stronger writer and a better resource for the prospects you want to attract. There’s no substitute for consistent writing practice.

As a former perfectionist who wanted to avoid criticism, it took me a long time to learn that. I actually wrote my first ebook to avoid creating a blog on my business website.

I felt comfortable putting all my perfectionist energy into writing an ebook, because once it was finished, it was finished. A blog was open-ended, and I’d have to constantly put my perfectionist energy into it. It seemed nerve-racking and overwhelming.

But when I eventually made a commitment to my blog, it was a huge step in the right direction for my business. Blog posts resonated with my ideal clients — who previously had trouble telling me apart from other service providers.

Before my business website had a blog, it’s like I was hiding. My blog not only made me visible, it made me the only reasonable choice for many prospects.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Your best writing that connects with the right prospects emerges when you’re actually doing the work. Since you start to reveal more about your point of view, will the wrong people also decide that you’re not for them? Sure.

Keep creating anyway.

Don’t save your (best) ideas

If a good idea fits into a blogger’s strategy, why would they wait to publish a post about it?

It’s typically a desire to wait until they have a bigger audience. Avoid that attitude and remember that everyone starts by serving the audience they currently have (or, when you don’t have any readers yet, the audience you aim to attract to your business).

Follow through with your idea, rather than hold off until a seemingly more ideal time.

You’ll always have a chance to write about the topic again in the future — and with new insights.

Is your blog or a different website the best fit for your idea?

As you become your own content editor, you develop skills that help determine the best place for a piece of content. And if you have an opportunity to write a guest post for a site that has a larger audience than yours, you always want to submit your best work.

The non-perfectionist knows …

It’s smart to use ideas that fit into your content marketing strategy right away, even if you wish you were already a bigger influencer.

Keep creating anyway.

Spread your most outstanding work

When you use one of your best ideas and recognize the content is special, repurpose it in different formats to reach more people.

A blog post will attract readers, but your target audience might also search for videos on YouTube. A version of that blog post that leads viewers back to your website can be put on YouTube so more people can discover and connect with your story.

If you have an outstanding product or service, you should be proud of the content you create to market it.

The non-perfectionist knows …

Even though it may be your goal to build your audience, it can be scary to expose your work to more people.

Keep creating anyway.

Noteworthy bloggers overcome perfectionism

Information is … information.

Content is your chance to creatively position information in a new way — a way that your prospects want to hear it.

Aren’t you more interested in finding the information you need from people you know, like, and trust? Those noteworthy bloggers write despite their perfectionist tendencies or fears of criticism.

So, keep creating the work that gets people to know, like, and trust you.

And publish it regularly on your website.

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