“Don’t fret over the first draft,” says, well, everyone.
Heck, even I’ve said it. And it’s true. Technically.
The first draft isn’t the time to fret about the quality of your writing. This isn’t the time to polish. It’s the time to get everything out and on the page, to see what you are working with. It can also be scary and overwhelming. Because once we start getting all the pieces out there, we see how much work we really have to do. And we start to worry.
Are we good enough? Is the story dumb? Am I a terrible writer? Who’s going to read this anyhow? I’m such a fraud.
It’s hard to switch off those voices, but until you quiet those inner critics, they will keep getting in the way.
