After slaving for so long to create a first draft, shouldn’t it be ready for editing? Surely, a rewrite would be a waste of time.
Consider this true story:
Jack’s article deadline was only a few days away. He had the concept, the hook, and what the reader take-away needed to be.
In the first hour, he was in his writing groove, what some call flow, hardly aware of his surroundings. An hour later, he paused in awe.
I can hardly believe how good this is.
Three hours later, he clicked Save, wrote an email to the editor, and started to attach the document. Oh, no. Where was it? Not where he thought he had saved it. He clicked on the file in Recent Documents and got an error.
He shook his head and tried to calm his grief.
That piece was the best work I’ve ever done. There’s no way I can write that well again.
The deadline wouldn’t go away, so he had no choice. He started over, rethinking the entire article.
Two hours later, he sat back in awe.
I can’t believe I finished so quickly. And this one is even better than what I wrote before.
Here’s what Jack learned:
- All writing is valuable for the experience, even when the work is never published.
- Whenever the brain is challenged to write something new, it will use all its available resources—including what was just written.
- A completed first draft puts writers in a much better position to create an opening that will hook readers more effectively.
- With a clear picture from beginning to end, weak parts can be recognized and replaced with something much better.
- The second draft should be all about rewriting. Save the editing for later.
Thanks for this article. I have person who won’t write a word until I teach on lines, headers, and fonts. I’ve explained that is the author’s discretion. If they want bold to no underlining, all caps, first word only or or every word capitalized, it’s their choice. Any suggestions?