Your first draft isn’t great. Admitting that is the first step of your second draft.

REFLECTION

WHAT THIS MEANS

First drafts are supposed to be rough, and the useful move is to stop defending them. As long as you are arguing that it is basically fine, you cannot see what needs cutting, because your eye is busy protecting rather than reading. Calling it what it is turns the thing from a verdict into material. Material is much easier to work with.

Finish the draft, then leave it overnight so you come back as a reader rather than the author. Mark the three weakest parts before you fix anything. Rewriting one of them properly usually does more than tidying all of it.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

Which first draft are you defending instead of rewriting?

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