Is half assery better than no assery?

letting things be shoddy for a moment

I took so many writing classes last year! These classes challenged me to delve deeper into the characters and their issues. Rather than take any random class, I focused on things I really needed to learn, mainly the character arc. It’s the interior story - what the character wants and needs and how they change over time. It’s the stuff happening under the surface. 

Almost every teacher has a model to clarify and simplify the concepts they are teaching. Models aren’t always easy for me to follow. Someone puts a chart or diagram up, and my mind goes fuzzy.

I gamely worked through these models, but I rarely did the whole process. I’d arrive at a place where I couldn’t continue. Instead of staying in place and spinning my wheels, I’d go back to writing the book itself. 

This could be called shoddy half-assery. But how many of us have taken a class and only partially completed the work? I boldly assert that even the most perfectionist among us has half-assed it at some point.

I think it’s okay to not do all the work in an online class. I wrote about this here. But what does this look like as I try to write a great novel?