When I was first drafting TQR in 2015, I didn’t know that much...
When I was first drafting TQR in 2015, I didn’t know that much about how to craft a story. I didn’t even dwell on what I wanted my writing style to be like. I simply sat down and wrote, fast and furious. I knew where I was starting, and I knew where I was ending, but all those details in between? I discovered them as I drafted. ⚡️This was a blessing in disguise. I was only writing for myself. I wrote for the sheer joy of putting words on the page. I wrote because I couldn’t *not* write. And so I finished this book in 48 days. ⚡️ And I’m sharing this today because I need to remind myself of those days. I need to remember that the first draft should always be like that—messy, visceral, alive. It is beautiful that way, even with its inconsistencies and rabbit trails and over described places and rambling dialogues. ⚡️ Let your first draft breathe and move and leave a trail of clutter on the page. ⚡️ This is something Anne Lamott has taught me, which I continue to remind myself because more and more, I’m finding that I expect my first drafts to be “perfect.” And that’s nonsense! So if you’re struggling with that, too, let me encourage you to let that perfectionism go. ⚡️ Here’s one of Anne’s quotes from BIRD BY BIRD:
“Perfectionism will ruin your writing, blocking inventiveness and playfulness and life force…Perfectionism means that you try desperately not to leave so much mess to clean up. But clutter and mess show us that life is being lived. Clutter is wonderfully fertile ground—you can still discover new treasure under all those piles, clean things up, edit things out, fix things, get a grip. Tidiness suggests that something is as good as it’s going to get. Tidiness makes me think of held breath, of suspended animation, while writing needs to breathe and move.”
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