Freedom of the First Draft

Trying to write the perfect first draft is a beginner’s mistake. Why spend hours on a piece of writing you could eventually toss? The trick to writing a successful first draft is to write it fast.

There’s no need to concern yourself about perfection. You can throw in as many adverbs as you want. You don’t have to worry about sentence construction. You don’t even have to worry about spelling. And, because of this, there is no place here for self doubt, guilt, or fear.

Just write.

The faster you write your first draft, the more chance you’ll keep ahead of that niggling voice that says you’re not good enough. You’ll be able to hold onto all the threads of your plot. You’ll be able to plunge into your story with abandon. You’ll have the freedom to explore different possibilities; they don’t all have to work because it doesn’t matter.

Things begin to unravel when we slow down, when we deal with the details at a microscopic level, when we continually question whether or not we are heading in the right direction.

The more you write, the better you will become. So keep writing and don’t give up. Give it everything you have. Give it your passion. Give it your heart. Give it your soul.

And then edit.

Do you agree? Do you have any tricks you use to stop yourself from self-editing during your first draft?