MARYLEE MACDONALD

Hello Reader,

I want to let you in on a secret that took me years to accept: your first draft is not supposed to be good.

I'm serious. The goal of a first draft is not to produce publishable prose. The goal is to get the story out of your head and onto the page. That's it. Everything else comes later.

I used to write a sentence, hate it, delete it, and rewrite it. I did this for hours. I produced almost nothing. A wise writing teacher finally told me: "Marylee, you can't edit a blank page." She was right.

The Two-Pass Rule

Here's what I do now. I write the whole first draft without looking back. Then I put it in a drawer for at least a month. Then I read it through once, just to see what's there. I circle sections that make me feel anxious, empathetic, or afraid. I pencil in question marks when I feel confused. On the second pass, I start fixing things.

If you can give yourself permission to write badly, you'll write more. And the more you write, the better your odds of landing on something worth keeping.

The trick is to separate the creator from the editor. They can't both show up at the same time. Let the creator have the first hour. The editor gets her turn later.

A Challenge for You

This week, try writing 500 words without stopping to edit a single one. Don't fix typos. Don't reread the previous paragraph. Just go.

Hit reply and tell me how it goes. I'd love to hear what you discover.

Sincerely,

Marylee MacDonald

P.S. If you're working on a novel right now, I'd love to know what's giving you the most trouble. Send me a note. I read every reply.

800 Blossom Hill Rd., Los Gatos, CA 95032-3567
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