Closure

After quite a long break, I return to my blog again. It's been almost 2 months, I'm knee deep in the application process. While I'm writing essays at full tilt, I also am perplexed by a question which is the topic of my post today.

I shall present two arguments, and invite comments from fellow bloggers (to whom I promise, that I shall write more often).

Writing essays is an iterative process. It's like sculpting - you start with a flat slab, and then shape it, chiselling away until what remains is what you want and only what you want. Write a draft, and then leave it. The next day, hack it, turn it upside down, and add new content. Come back to the third day, and add a fitting opening and conclusion, make some more changes, and so on. By extension, the quality of essays becomes directly proportional to the number of revisions it goes through. It is therefore a no-brainer that the best time to submit an essay is after the most revisions you can make to it (assuming you do not lose steam or burnout and all that). Which would be right before the deadline (or a day before the deadline, if you are scared of server malfunction). To this end, there is no closure.

On the other hand, I also feel that closure comes when you know you cannot do any better. Closure is not a defined, clearly visible destination that you can say you are at a certain distance from. Closure is a state of mind - you know it when you are at it. Closure is when you (or your reviwers) are truly satisfied with your work - what you say represents what you are and what you want to be. It may come within a few revisions, it may come right before the deadline, or it may be elusive, and you could continue to feel something's amiss despite having submitted. In short, closure is when you know it. Conversely, when you know it, you know it's time to click submit. That the deadline is 3 weeks away notwithstanding.

Closure is relative. What is your closure?