Once I had a professor rip up a paper I had written right in front of my face. The class was called “Writing for Magazines.” I handed him my paper & before he even read it, he tore it in two, letting both halves lifelessly float to the ground. I’m pretty sure I let out a small, audible gasp. Unfazed, he simply looked at me and said, “First drafts are always sh*t. Let them be sh*t.”
He went on to explain that, as writers, our best work is never found in our first drafts. First drafts are meant to get all the sh*tty content out–they’re supposed to be messy & extremely hard to write. The blinking cursor on a blank screen is supposed to intimidate you into writing things you wouldn’t normally say. You’re supposed to word vomit all of your paragraphs until you don’t know what your initial point was. Sure, there are a few sentences here and there that aren’t complete garbage, but overall first drafts aren’t your best…and that’s okay. Because the real fun begins in the re-writing, editing, second (and third and fourth) drafts. That’s where writers actually write their best work.
The first year out of college is kind of like your first draft. Aka, it’s kinda sh*t (for the most part).
Ampersand 