John Siracusa on the importance of criticism in the creative process:

The drawbacks are obvious. Knowing what’s wrong with something or thinking that you do, which, for the purposes of this discussion, should be considered the same thing does a fat lot of good if you lack the skills to correct it. And thinking that you know what’s wrong with everything requires significant impulse control if you want to avoid pissing off everyone you meet.

But much worse than that, it means that everything you ever create appears to you as an accumulation of defeats. “Here’s where I gave up trying to get that part right and moved on to the next part.” Because at every turn, it’s apparent to you exactly how poorly executed your work-in-progress is, and how far short it will inevitably fall when completed. But surrender you must, at each step of the process, because the alternative is to never complete anything—or to never start at all.

I’m reminded of how many poets & writers have said they don’t finish works so much as give up on them.

(via Daring Fireball)