26 days — 26 learnings: Part six of looking back & looking beyond.
My word for today is:
FSD — First Shitty Draft
Early 2017, I decided to write a book. I wasn’t just going to write a book. I wanted the whole world to read it :-)
Ha, ha, makes me smile at myself when I read these words. I am seldom plagued with lack of enthusiasm.
Writing a book is not an easy undertaking. I realized that. I joined courses: Writing courses, publishing courses, masterminds, critique groups, writing cooperatives, Grammarly. You name it.
It has been an adventure. Yes, it has. I needed to do something again for the first time. Firsts have that unique sense of energy. Being an absolute beginner at something opens up new gateways.
And now it is there. My FSD. My first shitty draft.
Is it good enough? Hell no.
Hemingway once told an inspiring writer:
Don’t get discouraged because there’s a lot of mechanical work to writing. There is, and you can’t get out of it. I rewrote the first part of A Farewell to Arms at least fifty times. You’ve got to work it over. The first draft of anything is shit. When you first start to write you get all the kick and the reader gets none, but after you learn to work it’s your object to convey everything to the reader so that he remembers it not as a story he had read but something that happened to himself.
I love these words. Yes, there was a kick. I’m proud of my FSD. Now the real work starts. I need to drudge through the drudgery. And I’ve lost none of my enthusiasm. This is something that I need to do. As good as I possibly can.
My sixth learning:
There is nothing like doing something for the first time
My take away for 2018: Keep at it!
