The resounding writing advice today tends to be, “Just get the words on paper. You can edit it later. You can’t edit a blank page. All first drafts are garbage anyway…Just get your word count and keep going!”

I can virtually guarantee that if you take this approach with essays, you’ll end up with a garbage product or you’ll have to re-do it.

For books? Well, my experience is largely the same. The editing process is BRUTAL when you play fast and loose with the first draft.

So, contrary to popular opinion today, I would argue that it’s OK to write a more measured first draft and save yourself a headache in edits!

This doesn’t mean every word needs to be perfect before you write it down. The big difference is that you work with the sentence/scene a bit longer, moving on when you feel satisfied (for now), rather than just writing the first thing that pops into your head.

It definitely makes editing easier, but I think it might make your overall process faster, too!

In episode 57 of the Vocabbett podcast, I dive into the drawbacks of this process. Listen below or on your favorite podcast player!