Nothing
comes out perfect the first time. You must embrace the rough draft.
When I started this blog in 2007 the way I wrote was directly
opposite that lesson. I would agonize over every word as I typed.
Fretting about getting my point across and not sounding like a
complete moron. No matter how hard I tired though I never got it
right the first time. There was always a second draft. Typically a
lot more than that.
Ideas
have to get out of your head before they can be developed. You might
be temped to think, as I am, that they are in there brewing and
developing. To a certain degree that is true, but they will develop
faster if they are on the page. Only then can you see them for what
they really are. If you are anything like me it's crap with just a
few nuggets of beauty.
Now
I can appreciate the rough draft. There is something appealing about
ideas in their original form. A purity that fades as they are
polished for outside consumption. The first draft is discovery. I
begin by writing in stream of consciousness toward an idea. I write
like no one will ever see it because no one will. At times it is
hard. At other times it is easy. Sometimes it feels like I am just
throwing ideas at the page to see what clumps together. It must come
out though because if I kept it in my head until it was perfect that
is exactly where it would stay.
2 comments:
Great post, Bill. I know that struggle with the rough draft! I want it to be perfect, which all too often keeps me from writing it.
the well is deep ???
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