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Anne Lamott first introduced me to this term in her excellent, Bird by Bird, the only writing how-to book that I've found at all useful.

The basic idea is this: you give yourself permission to write a really terrible first draft, so that while you're in the process of working on it, you stop obsessing over every awkward phrase, clunky description and misplaced punctuation, and get on with the business of writing. And I found this enormously helpful when I first started seriously writing. It was so refreshing to learn how to turn off -- or, at least, turn the volume down on -- my self-critic (who has the all the tact and finesse of one of those drunken assholes who like to scream at the television during athletic events) at least for long enough to bang out a novel.

There is, however, a down side.

When you finally finish, after months and months of pouring your heart into your work, when you print out the fresh manuscript and neatly stack it up on your desk, and finally, brandishing your red pen, start to reread what you've written, you realize . . . all you’ve got is the shittiest of shitty first drafts.

Which is where I'm at right now . . . wading my way through shitty first draft hell.

Oh, and the baby has his first cold.

Posted 31 May 2005 at 06:04 PM