creative process: write the worst trash possible

trust the sh*t, make a mess :)

let me tell you how i used to write first drafts. i used to write first drafts with my mind on the last draft.

the sentences would plod along, dragging with them this rock of an idea in my mind that every word i was putting on that page would end up maybe not in the same place, but snug with it’s friends in the final draft.

it was a lot of pressure and my nervous system is no longer set up for that.

so i changed the way i write first drafts. originally they would sound something like this:

Tracy scratches at a stain on her pant leg, but discovers it’s ketchup and so what she thought could be brushed away turns a lighter shade of grey against heather fabric.

knowing what i know now about writing and drafts and final versions, the first draft never sounds like the final! it’s absurd to think differently!

this inspired a challenge: instead of writing the best first draft possible, i thought, what would it be like to write the worst first draft possible?

i’m one of the writers who uses a journal for freewriting. it’s the one i use to imagine, to play around with ideas, write out tasks for the day, what is bothering me etc. i use the journal to. write. in, so i thought, what if my first draft is this journal?