137. Your Standards
I have standards and sometimes they slow me down and occasionally they make me come to a complete halt. In my writing, I get stuck. I get stopped. I get trapped in mud, because of those crazy standards.
And so I was delighted a number of years ago to read “Early Morning—Remembering My Father” by Kim Stafford. I had long admired some of William Stafford’s poetry and so when I read this book by his son, I discovered that as he talked to writers or worked with writers, sometimes William Stafford said, “If you get stuck, lower your standards and keep going.”
I can do that.
