[Ninjalawyer]

The idea that practice makes perfect plays completely into North American stereotypes - the idea that we're all equal in every respect and the only differentiator is how hard we've worked. It lets us be completely satisfied by your accomplishments, since they were all due to our hard work afterall, and also look down at people that didn't accomplish those things (obviously because they're lazy).

When I read Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers, I was totally captivated by the 10,000 hour rule. Why, the only thing that separates me from Bill Gates is the amount of computer time! Too bad he based that on an extremely limited study of high performers, and even misrepresented that. Unfortunately, it turns out that practice, even perfect practice, won't always make perfect.

That said, with writing I think anyone can vastly improve with practice. Not everyone will be a James Joyce, most will plateau far earlier than that no matter the hours they dump in, but I also think that that's okay; I need need to be perfect, just good.