Write a really bad first draft!

What I really like to do as a writing teacher, is to help change your attitude about writing so that it’s easier and less intimidating and frustrating for you. A fear of writing can sometimes freeze you in your tracks and give you a severe case of writer’s block. It can also make you feel like you aren’t a good writer, when you might just not know how to get started. So, how do you overcome this fear? My philosophy is to write a really bad first draft as soon as you’re given an assignment. 

You have to be willing to take chances, not worry about what others think, and just go ahead and write that first draft.  Don’t worry about anything. Just write. There’s no pressure to use correct grammar and spelling, or even to use complete sentences in a really bad first draft. In fact, it can be terrible. And even so, you’ll be amazed at how different your attitude will be when you’ve got something down on paper. Then, you can spend a few days letting your subconscious work on what you wrote before you approach the paper again for revision. After all, it’s like Terry Pratchett says, “The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” And he should know. Pratchett is best known for his Discworld series of 41 novels. 41!  Imagine if he had tossed out all of those terrible first drafts! Look at first drafts like information-gathering activities, a way for you to sort out your ideas and get something on paper. Then, you can use your draft to guide the rest of your essay. In fact, once you get comfortable with the idea of really bad first drafts, your attitude about writing will take a definite upturn, and you’ll begin to see how having a direction to follow enhances the enjoyment of the process and takes some of the fear of the unknown away. 

Developing your writing skills will have a huge impact on your success in high school, college, and the workplace.  Once you accept the premise that you can learn to write better, you also have to accept the idea that writing well isn’t easy and that it takes PRACTICE to do it well. Just like throwing the perfect spiral. Just like blowing a perfectly clear note on a trumpet. Just like freeing the princess in Super Mario 3. But when that day comes that you walk into a science class in college and the instructor tells you that you have to write a final paper in her class and that it counts for 25% of your grade, when that day comes, my friend, instead of running to drop the class, you will breathe a sigh of relief that at least 25% of your grade will be an A. And that’s enough to change your attitude about writing. 

So, instead of dreading the thought of writing an essay, try jumping in and writing a bad first draft.

And remember, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” -Maya Angelou

Thanks, Maya 

If you are having trouble getting started and would like to discuss some ideas with me, sign up for a free, 30 minute complimentary session with me and we’ll work it out together. Write On!