The Precious First Draft

Three days into my challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in the four weeks and two days of November (I started late), and even though I've only written 7,000 words so far, the amount I've learnt about writing is staggering. I've managed to add at least two thousand words a day for three days in a row, which doesn't sound that long a time to write in consecutive days, but for me it's really good. I used to be so precious over my first drafts, constantly going back and changing things, or sitting and agonising for long minutes over the perfect word to use in a sentence. I'd even read articles in which people said not to do this, just to get the first draft done and out of you and worry about polishing it later, but chose to completely ignore this advice. It's only now that I have the very real time pressure of knowing I just have to write and write whatever is in my mind, get it out onto the page thick and fast in the battle to reach 50k, that I'm finally realising that a quick first draft is not only easier, it's actually a lot more productive.

I've stopped myself from doing any more than skim-reading tiny parts of my 7,000 words so far, so a great part of it may be garbage, but at least it's there, and there's plenty of time to print it out and cross out masses of it and swap things around once I've finished. I used to worry so much about mt writing being almost-perfect first time that it would slow me down hugely, and even put me off sitting down to write because I'd know that it would take me hours to write a few hundred words, but now I know that the only person who'll read the unedited tripe is me, and everyone else will only see the gold that comes out of a mind quickly working and adapting to the pressures of getting words onto a page, and of course the hack n slash of editing that follows this. I'm really excited to keep going with my novel; the thought that in only three weeks I'll have something so big completed is amazing.