I want to tell you a little story about my daughter, Iman, and her One Draft Mentality in order to anchor in a point. I’m going to paint a scene, because, as we’ll discuss at some point in time, scenes are what readers remember.
A few years back, Iman came home for semester break with a 25-page paper due the day she was to return to class. True to her nature, Iman left her project until the very last minute. Stressed, she sat at the kitchen counter facing a blank piece of paper. She’d write one sentence, then think for ten minutes. She’d get up and pace, then sit back down to cry. Wiping her nose, she’d write the next belabored sentence before beginning the cycle again. This went on for hours. Bent over, her long, curly hair wet with tears, her tiny face pressed into hands no bigger than a baby’s, she said, in response to my incredulous expression, “Mom, you don’t understand. I don’t have time to get this wrong.”
See, Iman believes that it’s a waste of time, that it’s inefficient, to write multiple drafts of a paper. She believes that one should be able to get the job done, perfectly, in just one go. And to be fair, after fourteen hours of stress, after buckets of tears, she finished her paper, handed it in, and received a decent grade.
Like Iman, you might get away with the One Draft Mentality when writing a 25-page academic paper. Adopt that mindset when writing an entire book, however, and you’ll end up in the psychiatric ward of your local hospital.
This is why I’m not only giving you permission to write a shitty first draft, I’m actually insisting that you do so. Now, when I say shitty first draft, I’m talking about writing so bad that you’d die of embarrassment if anyone read it, even the dog.
Complete this draft first, then, and only then, go back and clean it up.
Listen; if you want to be really good at something, you must be willing to be bad in the beginning. That’s how this thing called process works.
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If you liked this little snippet, you’re going to love THE BOOK. Learn all of the dance steps you’ll need to master in order to write a powerful, publish-worthy book.
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