How do you know?

Jennifer Thermes, an artist who blogs at Art, Words, Life, posed this question:

"How do you know when you're done with a piece of art? Or writing? Or are they really ever "finished" at all?"

Here's my answer:

Writers struggle with this, too. I find that I want both clarity and mystery in my poems, and if I overwork them, I get neither. For novels, it's tougher, because there are so many places you could polish and polish, but I think I'm still looking for the same two things: the story line runs clearly through the book, but it has a layer of mysterious otherness---beauty, if you want to call it that.

I also think of it like music---a clear theme with enough overtones to make it full and rich.

And yes, a deadline helps. So does an editor/agent combing over it until you're both sick to death of it.

And one more thing---a feeling of detachment, as if I didn't really write the work at all. My words look slightly alien, independent, as if I've let them go and they've become something true and alive.

Go leave a comment over at her blog, if you want to. She's going to round up all the answers on Friday.