Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Not one perfect draft, but many imperfect ones

From my evening's reading last night (boldface is mine):

Plot Whisperer for Writers and Readers: More than One Draft: "Do you understand that writing a novel, memoir, screenplay involves not just writing one draft but many?...Get your ego out of the way. The more you are able to tolerate imperfection, the more quickly you can finish a draft and every draft makes the story better."

How true. As much as I think I "know" that the first, second, maybe even the final draft down the road won't be perfect, something in my head digs in its heels knowing I have to get words on the page imperfectly in order to make progress. I think this is why I did so well on NaNoWriMo in 2009 - I had permission to write a messy first draft.

I need to remember to give myself permission to write imperfectly on a daily basis or I'll never get anywhere. Just in case you need it: I give you permission, too.

Cross-posted at Heartland Writers Group