Why the Term ‘Experimental Art’ Makes Me Laugh

Why the Term ‘Experimental Art’ Makes Me Laugh

Reader Comments (6)

  1. Stefanie,

    I have never commented on a Copyblogger article before (though I probably should have!), but this has to be one of the best I’ve read here, so here I go:

    The way you took your great observation about the experimental/avant-garde art redundancy and made an analogy for content marketing and the idea that content marketing is always experimental was inspiring. It’s helped loosen my perfectionism about writing and publishing.

    Thank you!

    • Welcome to the comment section of Copyblogger, Martin!

      Thank you for your thoughtful note.

      It’s wonderful to hear that the post contributed to chipping away at your perfectionism. I’ve been there too and it’s indeed a process of loosening up. 🙂

  2. You’ll get no quarrel from me that perfection is a tiring, time-consuming and ultimately losing strategy in content writing. For years I had “Just Do It” handwritten next to my computer to help me push the fledgling emails and articles out of the nest and fly (or fall to the earth with a thud).

    My quarrel is with the sorry state of proofreading online content, from the meanest to the most exalted sites (Copyblogger being a shining exception). Not just a couple of typos or grammatical errors. No one is (always) perfect. I mean the 500-word articles that have so many errors you have to stop reading to make the pain go away.

    Proofreading is an essential but easy way to make your content more readable and, consequently, more valuable. I suggest we mount a “Please Proofread” campaign to Make America Great Again. (Perhaps one of the 2020 candidates will make it a campaign plank?)

    • Proofreading has a special place in my heart too, Linda. 🙂

      It’s an important process that takes time — no such thing as a “quick proof” from my experience!

  3. Hey Stefanie,

    Your reminder that strategic doesn’t mean a rigid plan is as helpful as using the fluffy idea of “experimental art”. (Love that)

    I think part of the “perfection curse” is feeling like we have to know more than we do before we can publish something. It’s easy to forget that the writing that most resonates with people is when we weave in wisdom and thoughtful opinions. That’s a critical part of creating any quality art. You have something worth saying, and you say it clearly and thoughtfully. Whatever form it takes.

    Thank you!

    • It might be tricky to overcome because it’s giving up logic a bit — it’s “logical” to want to feel like you’ve mastered something before you start sharing with others.

      There’s also the fear that someone else will think we don’t know what we’re talking about.

      But even those “masters” get criticized! (No one can escape it.)

      So it’s a shame when we hold back instead of sharing what we currently know (if it’s valuable).

      Real people are more interesting than “perfection.” You really can start where you are. 🙂

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