#48 first draft

The most important lesson that I learned in all of college can be summarized in five words:  “Writing is different than editing.”   It was the admonishment of a curmudgeonly old journalism professor that we just write, putting unfiltered thoughts out there, and worry about organizing and editing them later.  

Because of this simple mantra, I have completed hundreds of proposals, papers, projects and especially a dissertation.  Writing and editing utilize different portions of the brain and as we worry about spelling or comma placement we cut off the creative flow that comes from freely expressing thought.  Writing without editing also produces far greater quantity of writing – giving the editor a larger selection of work from which to glean some “good stuff”.  It makes all the difference in getting something done.  A blank page is intimidating, but reviewing something that is already there takes much less effort.  We often know what we don’t like, so editing it out comes naturally. 

I think this lesson applies for many things beyond the literary world.  It is really about starting and worrying about making it better later.  START vacation planning and then narrow down specifics later.  START planning a menu for your dinner party and then swap out choices later.  START making a Christmas gift list and then make changes depending upon what you actually find at the mall.  START thinking of all those courses you could take and then pick one or two.  START dragging out the box of receipts and sorting them into piles and then determine what is tax deductible later. 

We don’t like to begin and we don’t like to have first drafts in life.  But a good life is like that – continuously editing to make it better.

-- beth triplett
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