A new perspective

Hello Dear Readers!

I read something recently that caught my attention and I wanted to share it with you. A long while back I wrote a whole blog on why all first drafts are garbage. Ok, that’s probably a little harsh, it’s not EXACTLY about that, but it’s more about giving yourself permission to let your first drafts be bad. If you are like me and you struggle with unrealistically high standards of yourself and perfectionism then you can imagine trying to tackle a first draft is really difficult. It is 10,000% A-OK to let your first draft be bad.

I used to try to console myself with these thoughts to take the pressure off myself to do a good job. Even well know writers have some strong opinions about first drafts. Take Hemmingway for example — “The first draft of anything is shit.” Yep. Real motivational there, buddy. Or less abrasive, but still somewhat discouraging is the quote “To become a proper writer, you have to forgive yourself the catastrophe of the first draft.” —Alain de Botton. Man. So my first draft is either bad, or garbage, or shit, or a catastrophe, or a dumpster fire.

All that to say, I have noticed that a lot of this talk is highly negative. And while these statements are not necessarily untrue, they probably don’t make you feel better and inspire you to just keep charging ahead. Writing is hard enough. Trying to cheer yourself along with quotes about how much you need to be at peace with what a bad job you’re doing just… doesn’t feel like the best way to get yourself over the finish line. I mean, don’t get me wrong, sometimes you need a little tough love. But all the time? No thanks. I’m not going to hate myself into writing a better first draft. All I’m going to do is make myself more miserable and make the process way less fun.

Enter, this new quote I stumbled upon. “Every first draft is perfect because all the first draft has to do is exist. It’s perfect in its existence. The only way it could be imperfect would be to NOT exist.” ― Jane Smiley

Wow.

What a change in perspective. Way to stop beating myself up. All I have to do is finish the first draft. The only expectation I need to put on myself is to get it done. I don’t even need to worry about concepts like “good” or “bad”, “great” or “garbage”, “masterpiece” or “shit”. Nope. None of that matters. Only done matters. And done is perfect when it comes to your first draft.

You guys know I’m a huge proponent of just doing the thing. Just take action. Even you don’t know what the heck you’re doing. Action > Inaction. I think this quote really just helps nail that home in a positive way.

Till next time dear reader. Don’t worry about perfect. Just worry about done. <3 Tiff

P.S. I’d love to hear all about whatever project you’re working on. Find me on social media and let’s connect!