Writing A Novel - First Draft

First Drafts. I llove that Anne Lamott calls them "shitty first drafts". It is so empowering to think of them that waay. What happens when you write a first draft? You write. That's all. Get it all out. And, as Stephen King suggests, it is best to do with the "door shut" - at least it is for me.

I'm writing this blog post as I write my first drafts and, even though I am going to cringe when I see it on my screen - I am going to leave it that way when I publish it. It is going to be terrible. It is going to have typos. It is going to have sentences and words I don't particularly like and it is probably going to be missing some "e"s (my "e" key on my keyboard is especially tricky).

The point is, when you write a first draft the goal is to get the story out of your brain. If you let your internal editor think he/she can jump in and interrupt whenever he/she feels like it, then he/she will. (My internal editor is telling me right now to quit the "he/she" thing and just call my internal editor "it.) What happens when the internal editor interrupts? You lose train of thought and, perhaps, your story gets away from you.

That is heart breaking.

First drafts are fun and free, just like running through the waves at the beach. Spend a day in the sun of your imagination and don't think about all the sand that's building up in your bathing suit - that's for later. Enjoy the moment and write.

Happy writing!

&

Thanks for reading!

Do you enjoy the process of writing first drafts, or does the "shittiness" make it too much to bear?