By Malissa The Writer
Don’t. Stop. Writing. No. Matter. What.
Writing a first draft for a book, work proposal, school paper, or even an email should be done the same way: write out your thoughts entirely without editing as you write. You can fix a quick spelling, or add a comm sure, but don’t get caught up in editing during the writing phase. You’ll have time to fix those things in the editing phase. When you get all your thoughts down, you have more to work with during the editing phase. Also, as you write your mind gets into a rhythm on the subject and that’s when those “golden sentences” are made and that’s how a paragraph is created. A paragraph should start with a topic sentence (a sentence explaining the main idea of the paragraph) and then “golden sentences” explaining your topic sentence with examples, if applicable, to ensure you reader comprehends the information correctly.
One of the great things about a first draft is that it will force you to finalize your train of thought on the subject matter. Let’s say, for example, that you want to ask for a raise and sit down to write a letter to your supervisor. While writing you realize that you’re going to have to prove why you deserve a raise and realize that you need to highlight your achievements. Adding your recent MBA from the local university also makes you look good in the letter. The first draft gets all of these rambles out now to edit later into a beautiful letter. It’s like making clay to form art. The first draft mixes the clay, editing makes it art. Don’t be afraid if your first draft has a lot of errors. It’s your raw writing and the only way to improve it is to see it and work at it.
Writing first drafts can be hard because it’s like a one-way street: just because you can see in the rearview mirror doesn’t mean you can turn around. When you’re writing that first draft keep going and don’t turn around to edit just because it’s on the page. Keep writing and get all those small and big ideas out your head.
If you remember nothing else remember this: don’t edit during the writing phase because it will distract from your writing.
As always, if you have any questions about this blog post or comments feel free to email me at [email protected].
