And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work.
– Ira Glass
I have been going back and forth over scale for model railroading for years. When I was a kid my grandfather gave me a lot of HO (1:87.1) trains. He worked in HO and it is, even today, the most popular scale in the US. When we moved to East Texas in fifth grade I wanted to build in N Scale (1:160) because we had no basement.
As interest in model railroading has come and gone over the years I have wavered between HO and N with occasional flights of fancy into S scale, two foot gauge to model Main narrow gage. I have acquired some basic equip in both HO and N, but not started a layout.
Until last night that is. Last night I finally cut a piece of foam core which has sat in my game room for close to two years. It was one 40″x60″ half-inch sheet intended to become the base for an N scale layout 30″x60″. Cross joists 2″ tall have been cut from some of the leftover foam. I will hot glued to the bottom.
Now, I could go on and one abut how my cuts are horribly uneven. My little perfectionist heart hates them and wants me to stop and do it over and over until I do it right.
Of course, I can’t afford another piece of foam core. Well, one, but not enough until I can cut a perfect line with a straight edge. I do not have the resources to do this over and over until it is perfect. I need to accept “good enough for this outing” and move on.
For some reason that is easier to do with a foam core edge that will be covered by some wood trim than it is with a short story. One reason I have trouble finishing any story is halfway through I know in my heart they are crap.
I know the one I have out to magazines isn’t that good. On an intellectual level I know that is okay. Early stories are often not good. The Bradbury Challenge is to write fifty-two stories in fifty-two weeks not because you’ll write fifty-two great stories but because the way to write good ones is to write enough.
Just like the way to build a great layout for your model trains you need to actually build one, no matter how bad, to get yourself started.
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