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As people celebrate Independence Day in the US, I want to celebrate four other types of freedoms.

1. Freedom to dream.
2. Freedom to work towards your dream.
3. Freedom to fall down and get back up again.
4. Freedom to create bad art.

I’m going to expand on the last freedom because a lot of writers struggle with it. They look to critique groups, agents, editors, friends, and/or teachers to validate their work and give it a stamp of approval. They want to create masterpieces. Here’s a news flash. Most masterpieces came after a lot of sh**ty work.

Manure helps things grow, whether it’s a harvest or talent. It’s not your job to judge your work. Your job is to finish it then create something else. The more you create the better you’ll be. So free yourself from striving for perfection. If you’re courageous enough to be bad, you’re daring enough to be great.

Let freedom ring!