Okay, let's face it: we're all kind of a mess. Left foot cold and soggy because of puddle in the school parking lot? Check. Part of lunch on lap instead of table? Unfortunate, but true. Papers hopelessly crumpled when stuff knocked out of arms in hallway? You bet. It's not at all fun, but the one place that being a mess is actually productive is writing. First drafts aren't pretty—for anyone. Lots of times, you'll read over the paragraph that you spent hours perfecting the night before and wince. It's tempting to spend another few hours fixing it up before even thinking about moving on to the next one. But, while it may not be the perfect paragraph, it's there. It is on the page, and it exists. So move on and write the paragraph that doesn't yet—even if you don't know exactly where it's going. Use your first draft to let yourself be a mess. Eventually you'll get to the last sentence of the last page and you'll get to write "The End." You'll have a whole, complete story. And then you can go back and make the mess look pretty. Maybe you'll wince a lot and think, "What was that?" But it's okay because you're the only one who ever has to see that messy first draft. (Okay, maybe you'll show it to your very very best friend in the whole world who you've known since the second grade, but, seriously, that is it.)
Oh, and you can save all those messy real-life moments to put your characters through. After all, they should have to suffer at least as much as you.
Martha Mihalick
Assistant Editor, HarperCollins Publishers
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