The power of imperfect words

St. Jerome has a quote that I like: ‘A polished discourse only gratifies the ears; one which is not so makes its way to the heart.’

The same could be said about writing. Sometimes pretty words lie dead on the page. Sometimes polished words are not the words with power behind them.

Eloquence does not equal effectiveness.

As a writer you want your sentences to come out clean, you want your prose, as my friend put it, to breathe on the page, to dazzle.

What this quote reminds me of is that the point is not to write beautiful things for the sake of beauty. The point is to make a connection with a person. To tell a story that people feel in their bones, that they can see, that they can hear, and that finally they can relate to, that moves them in a real way.

Often that comes when you put away an obsession with perfection. When you write something as truthfully as you can and let it be, warts and all.