University of Virginia Library

Never Good Enough

I remember many times when I
was an editor I'd have to make
what is for some a hard decision: to
say "no" to a young staffer who
wants to write it this way or who
says the headline should say that or
this type is "really neat" or "let's
say this — that'll fix so and so"; or
"why do I have to rewrite this? It is
good enough."

That last is most laughable: it is
never good enough. It can always
be better. And the first step toward
making it better is to learn and to
admit that it can be; the second
step is, again, enough will to make
it better.

And so, for me it meant long
nights, plummeting grades and
many anguished and emotional
"no's." The Record was no longer a
"fun" place to work; and Gillmore
was known as an impossible
perfectionist.

But all that hardly mattered.