I agree with George Dila’s idea of first drafts. That they aren’t something to just be plowed through, as then you might as well start over. I can’t just write something. I am always backspacing words or deleting entire sentences as they just don’t sound right. If I sense I am going in the wrong direction, I don’t just keep writing. I got to go back and fix things. Sometimes I even delete entire paragraphs because they didn’t head in the right direction. If I just continued to write, I wouldn’t even know what to fix and should just restart as none of it makes sense. I still revise things at the end, but this way it is small fixes and not the entire essay that needs to be redone. I do think that first drafts are bad compared to the end result, but they aren’t complete garbage.
I just think first drafts can’t be too bad, or people won’t really want to write. If they are too bad, and someone looks it over to advise you, you might get overwhelmed with all you need to fix. I also don’t understand how people can just write without going back. Your ideas don’t always flow just right. If I read things over after just writing it out, I would be so lost and not have any real clue what I was trying to say. I don’t constantly go back, over and over again to make sure the sentences are perfect, as I think there is no perfect in writing. There is always room for improvement, always something to change. Who knows, by the time you improve it your ideas might change and you will have to write it all over again.
I am just saying that continuing to write doesn’t work for me. Going back a little bit to make things a tiny bit smoother is what I do compared to just continuing to write. That is just me though, if you can just go without stopping do that. It confuses me, but it is your process. Everyone is different, so just focus on what works best for you.
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