Saturday, August 14, 2010

There Are No Perfect First Drafts

I am still proud of the letter from the editor that I wrote for my college literary magazine.  I hadn't read it in a year or more, so when I was transcribing it into the blog last night, I actually found myself being impressed with some of the lines I had written.  I know that it is not perfect (because there were lines I wanted to rewrite), but it is a very polished piece.


Although I was inspired to write what I did.  The first draft was almost nothing like the final version.  The ideas were there.  The introductory story was there, but it was way too heavy.  Too much description and exposition.  I couldn't get to the point because I was getting so bogged down with the details (mainly about trying to describe a perfect day without being long-winded).

It took a lot of editing.  A lot of active thinking and tinkering to make that piece into something I enjoyed and respected.  I may have been inspired for an idea and a format, but when it comes to the nuts and bolts, it only comes from hard work.  There are no perfect first drafts, no matter what anybody says (even me).

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