This week: Draft quick and dirty

The great editor Maxwell Perkins once said, "Just get it down on paper, and then we'll see what to do with it."

This week, take that advice. Draft quick and dirty. If you don't know how to spell a word, just approximate; you or your spell-checker can fix it later. (And please, please, don't let your word-processing program highlight misspellings while you draft.) If you don't know which of two words to use, use them both; you can decide between them when you look at your draft again at the revising stage. For now, just get comfortable with the idea of doing it wrong the first time.

In the end, you'll be a more efficient and effective writer.

 

Comments

[Daphne Gray-Grant]

This is just excellent advice! And let me add a codicil: If you are worried that you're going to forget to check something, later, when it's time for editing, simply write yourself a "promissory note."

Begin with a symbol you've chosen for yourself (the note could be in square brackets, fancy brackets like this: {, put in boldface, or preceded with two asterisks **,) then write the instruction. Here are some examples:
[Check spelling]
{Is this date accurate?}
**confirm job title
etc. etc.

Something about writing the promissory note will help calm your brain and allow you to continue writing without worrying that you're going to make a terrible error.