Writing the First Draft

Can I tell you a secret? I hate writing the first draft. It never lives up to my vision. I doubt myself through the entire draft, battling thoughts like 'not talented', 'get a real job', and my least favorite 'this is boring'.

But if it weren't for my willingness to face the intimidating first draft, I wouldn't have written a novel or countless business articles or even this article that you're reading.

What is it about writing the first draft that stops so many writers in their tracks?

In a word: fear. As readers, we're use to reading the final draft. We rarely see the writer's hideous first draft. We buy into this belief that the writer must have turned out brilliant prose one night at two am, sent it off to a publisher the moment the post office opened and received a contract later that afternoon. That never happens.

Months and months (sometimes even years) of rewrites, edits, and proofreading follow the first draft of any article or book.

The doubts that plague you during the first draft are normal. In fact, I was talking to another writer today who said, "I think my story sucks. The only thing that keeps me going is the thought that I can fix it all later."

Indeed, that's the beauty of the first draft. You can go back after you've finished your project and edit and tweak it until it lives up to your original vision.

I love how Robert Cormier phrases it: "The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon."

Writing the first draft is supposed to be a messy process with words misspelled, crossed out or rearranged at two am when you can't sleep. The articles in the glossy magazines? The New York Times best-seller? The nationally syndicated column?

All of those writers had to start somewhere. Look back far enough and you'll probably find scribbled notes on a manuscript waiting to be sent to the editor. You'll find red ink and coffee stains on the neatly numbered pages.

This time period can be referred to as 'ugly manuscript syndrome' or UMS for short. UMS affect ten out of every ten manuscripts. The good news is that if you stick with it, eventually your ugly manuscript can become something beautiful.

"I can fix a bad page but I cannot fix a blank one." - Nora Roberts