Epiphany

I was thinking more about my first-draft doldrums last night and came to this epiphany. The first draft is like trying to write about someplace you’ve never been. It’s necessary because in doing so you learn about the thing you’re creating, but it can be painful at the same time because you’re kind of thrashing around in the dark trying to figure out where you’re going. With the subsequent drafts, at least you already have a sense of the geography and have done most of the heavy lifting beforehand.

I discovered this because shortly after writing about how dissatisfied I was with my latest effort, my subconscious mind worked out some of the kinks and revealed to me a few ways to make the chapter work better. Funny how that works out. No wonder I’ve always had so much trouble in the past—I’ve put too much effort into getting every word in the first draft “just right” and didn’t give myself the freedom to make mistakes.

Now I’m making all kinds of creative mistakes left and right! Hopefully that turns out to be a good thing.