Recently a new member here evinced the concern that working on their WIP might be "polishing a turd." Hmm. Maybe they were. Or maybe they were cleaning a crap-covered nugget of literary gold. You can't really know until you've polished it for a while. But let's assume it really was a turd, 100% fecal matter, crust to core. Should they flush it down the johnny, never to offend eyes or nose again? Or should they put it aside to compost, and see what hidden seeds might sprout? There may not be much use in polishing a turd, but they do make good fertilizer.
I think I developed most of my skill by redrafting and editing. If I gave up as soon as I knew it wasn't good, I'd never have improved.
Haha. I got the term from a Tom Waits song: Part of the reason I said it was because my goal is literally "good enough", with a strong concern of quantity over quality. Seems a legitimate tactic for trying to make money self publishing fantasy romance. Which means I'm spending less time developing things and less time editing. The other reason is this is my first attempt at something like this and that means my first draft sucks harder than a starving vampire and I'm not slowing down. I hope the story is interesting enough but there is the possibility that when I take a step back, I'll be looking at a turd. Lol.
Old joke/story: There was once a little girl who wanted a pony. But on her birthday, all she got was a room full of manure. She immediately jumped in and began digging: with all that horse manure, there had to be a pony in there somewhere.
If you're referring to the story itself, then I never worry that I might be "polishing a turd." I know my story is good enough because I like it. I believe the music I like is good, the food I like is good, and the stories I like are good. I've never really doubted that. That's not to say I always feel my story execution is good. It all too often isn't. But that's a consequence of where my writing skills currently are.
