Anyone else driven by strange compulsions?

[DoctorMowinckel]

I do photography. I'm good at it, I guess. People like my shots, people I don't like like my shots. People have licensed my shots, but I hate the pictures I take. I loathe them, every shot that doesn't come out well is my failure as a photographer. It's a reminder that I'm not good enough, I hate that. The reason I shoot is to take that one in a thousand shot that I like. That's one in a thousand of the ones I put in my 'dumps'. My dumps include shots that people might want to license, so I throw them all up in a gallery for them to browse. My portfolio has even fewer shots. About two of every 100 of my shots go into my portfolio. The 80% that don't make it into my dumps are never seen by anyone.

My motivation to make pictures is bizarre. I do it, I take the shots, I do all the editing and all the post, all hoping that I'll find that shot that gives me that rush, that makes me excited, that motivates to slough through the crap to get that elusive shot. I am driven by a compulsion to make that one in a thousand a shot, all to validate what I do as a photographer.

Anyone else driven by bizarre compulsions?

Here's a few of my galleries. I like ONE shot out of all of these, it's #24, in the Larkin Poe gallery. You're free to like 'em, I don't.

http://doctormowinckel.com/pictures/galleries/larkin_poe/
http://doctormowinckel.com/pictures/galleries/dragon_wagon/
http://doctormowinckel.com/pictures/galleries/the_ragbirds/

[Eviecorn]

I can't afford the time to treat my artwork this way, but it's probably why I only post a piece once maybe every 4 months or so.  I will sometimes draw the same image 6 times just to find that the first one was still the best.

Writing, however ... I freelance, so I can churn out pieces that I'm totally lukewarm about that please my clients.  I'm not happy with lukewarm, and I revise compulsively.  Sometimes I do it too much, and the version that came around the 3rd or 4th revision is a better piece than what it is by my 15th revision.  Kind of like stretching the dough too thin, so to say.

The moral of the story is that the quest for perfection can sometimes be a waste of time.  Step back from your work before you do a million versions of the same thing; you may chip away at your original intent, and turn your figurative swan sculpture into a blue jay.

[kaoskat]

I'm OCD. I have plenty.

[Kiwi]

Someday I'll get the motivation to find time to work on my crafts. I have tons of bought but not started, or partially started, projects. Until then I keep seeing more and more I want to do

[Sarahlacewing]

Not exactly like this but I have a compulsion to have things in pairs or groups. They have to belong together.  When I collect pony families I have to find orphaned babies.  If there is a mom and baby I must buy them together and find a single bachelor dad to belong to their family.  Because they belong together.  They cannot be pulled apart because they are a family.  I cannot have a mickey without a minnie mouse.  I can't have sets of two and one set of one or three.  Because then the one toy/third toy is sad and lonely.  It's an odd compulsion.