My First Time: Too Soon to Share?

The first draft is always crap

A few years ago I decided to figure out how to solve the Rubik's Cube once and for all.  It was a total disaster.  

The pure number of methods available on the Internet was encouraging.  So many ways to go about this!  How could I not solve it on my first attempt?

I spent hours upon end twisting and turning and driving concepts into my skull.  It should have been easy to pull it all together.


Supremely confident, I invited co-workers to watch me solve the cube.  How embarrassing!  I rallied an audience way before I was ready. 

Don't let this happen with your writing.

There is freedom in knowing that your first draft is not going to be good—at least not ready.  It will be messy.  You're going to make mistakes.  And if you show it to anyone too soon, I guarantee you will be embarrassed.  But that's okay.

That's perfectly normal.

We are halfway into NaNoWriMo and inevitably some of us are itching to have others read our works in progress.  But now is the time to write, not edit.  Although the prose flowing out of your fingertips might seem profound to you, it's still going to be crap at first.  No exceptions.  This is especially the case when we are all scrambling to achieve this ridiculous word count in November.  Face it, it's going to be mostly garbage.

That's okay.  It has to be that way.

This is how your story is born.

It's not an insult to say your first draft is crap.  It's about letting go of your inner critic and being free enough to get down the important points and essense of your story.  Let's finish it first.

Garbage is really important.

Your first draft should be compost for your story.  Let something beautiful grow from it.  Remember when you were a kid running into the house to urge Mom to smell the scoop of compost you dug up for her?  No?  Well, of course not.  Because nobody does this.  You need to wait until the flowers come up before you can share them.  And they will, with time.

So for now, enjoy your first draft and let it fester.  It will be beautiful soon enough.


Happy Writing!

Random Recommendation: 25 Questions To Ask As You Write

It's a very nice! High five!

NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, officially kicked off today.  In case you don't know, this challenge is to write 50,000 words of your novel during the month of November.  (Your ultimate goal may vary, but 50,000 words is approximately 200 pages.)

Many of the participants crazy enough to sign up for this challenge are probably going to be lost in a fog of words somewhere around November 15th.  So before that happens, I decided to offer a blog post recommendation as a beacon for this month and to get you to ask the important questions about your writing.

The post, "25 Question To Ask As You Write" at Terrible Minds, addresses important topics such as theme, your writing voice, and the purpose of each and every scene.  You'll also be asking yourself if you're as ready as you thought you were (the clock is ticking).

Keep in mind, Chuck occasionally uses profanity.  Okay, he has quite the potty mouth, but if you can overlook some colorful language, you'll get some really great advice.  If nothing else, it's always entertaining to read his stuff.

Anyone who compares writing to "brushing the teeth of a meth-cranked baboon" has got my vote any day!  Enjoy!

Are you also doing NaNoWriMo this year? Yes? Stop reading this and write already!

Also, stay tuned for December, I will be featuring Thursday Thirteen posts on my blog.

And Now For My Next Trick...

If you've spent any time on my blog you'll know that I'm rarely content.  I'm addicted to challenges.  The Rubik's Cube was the gateway drug to other unique twisty puzzles.

I can't get enough.

With every new puzzle I eventually have an epiphany.  It's a rush.  I realize I can use knowledge I have already discovered about previous puzzles and apply these lessons to the new puzzle.

So what can I do as a writer to continue to challenge myself in this manner?

It's the same thing.

I have a decent foundation in place for crafting sharp, high quality stories.  To date, my focus has been writing short stories.  And I am happy with this.  I can turn around edits faster and produce more work.  Plus, I love short stories.

But November is almost here and you know what that means.  NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month.  The challenge is to write 50,000 words in the month of November.

Well, I'm ready for something new.  And I can't have my wife tripping over any more boxes of puzzles shipped from mysterious origins.

So, I'm writing a novel.

I always have the same level of doubt with any new challenge.  With these new puzzles, it's always, "I just can't do it!  Seriously, I don't know how I'm ever going to figure this one out."  This one has way more pieces, or different angles, or circles cut into it.  It's totally unique.  It's too different.

Guess what?

I eventually figured it out.  Every single time.  So that's why it's time for me to write my novel.  I know how to tell a gripping and evocative story.  The foundation is in place even though the challenge will be unique.

But I'm willing to step outside of my comfort zone.  I have to.  I bore too easily.

What about you?  What are you doing differently?  Are you writing something new to challenge yourself? Writing in a different POV?  A different genre?  Or like me, in a different format?

Thanks to S. Trugliai on Flickr for the wonderful image.