“It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be written.” -JBHarris

What I think is so disheartening about the writing process is that it can feel so daunting! What you have in your head and what may come out of it doesn’t always look the most polished, sane or pretty.

But that is the point of a rough draft–it’s rough! It’s not meant to be clean. It is meant to be written. Think of it as going through a forest with a machete. Your job is to cut a path. And keep cutting the path towards the other side of the forest–by any means necessary.

Remember that the most crucial thing is to get what you have what is in your head out of it.

No more. No less.

The most important thing about a draft is that once it is written–it can be changed! It can be lengthened, shortened and made a series with the right motivations. In essence, this is the poignant thing to remember when beginning a draft–fiction or non-fiction!

I know it’s messy. I know it is scary. I know it feels impossible, soul-crushing and challenges your imagination–but write anyway. The next step is the revision. This is where Neil Gaiman says where you look like you knew what you were doing the whole time.