Written By: Lauren Howard
You know what that is?
That, my friends, is a bad first draft.
That’s not me being self-deprecating and humble.
It’s bad because most first drafts are.
It’s too short. It’s poorly structured. I have NO idea what the point of it is.
And I have been sitting and spinning, mostly in embarrassment, because of how bad I thought it was as if I’m the only person ever who has written a bad first draft.
Oh, the ego. And the self-imposed pressure to be good at everything the first time or never try again.
Yeah.
There’s also a fair amount of embarrassment that I would be presumptuous enough to even WRITE A BOOK because who in their right mind would want to read random essays that I put together about my battered heart and my quirky dad?
That last one is going to be a longer process. I could get paid a bergillion dollars to publish this and still be like, “Wait, you sure? I don’t think you meant THIS one. You probably meant that other person who talks about her dad an unsettling amount and somehow both lives to chat with strangers but has no desire to be in the same room with people she actually knows.”
Yeah, must mean her.
Don’t worry. No one is rushing to pay me a bergillion dollars for this.
Not the point.
Right now? It’s a bad first draft, and I have a new pack of felt tip pens. It’s about to get colorful up in hurr.
Be brave enough to suck at something new today. If this chicken sh!t can do it, so can you.
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