I’m always comparing my sloppy first drafts with other people’s heavily-edited published work. So it’s no wonder I’m down on my own stuff; this is a completely unfair contest of my own making.

That’s why I’ve found Dan Harmon’s advice enduringly helpful:

💬 Switch from team “I will one day write something good” to team “I have no choice but to write a piece of shit.”

In other words, ‘perfect’ is for editing, not for writing.