There are some things I should have learned by now. This isn’t my first first draft.

This morning, approaching twenty thousand words, in the zone of the scene I was rendering, doubt interrupted. Wait? Did I make her sister younger than her in the last scene? And now she’s the youngest?

Rather than doing what I knew I should, I scrolled back in the document to find the earlier scene. I knew even while I was doing this that it wasn’t a good idea. I knew that in the first draft it’s best to just keep writing, knowing that you’ll clean up the details in revision.

Now, I am writing this blog instead of finishing the scene and I’ll probably eat lunch and shampoo the carpet before I come back to it.

I recall reading a book or an article once that talked about a division of mind between the creative mind and the editor’s mind, and it seems to me now that both are fueled by curiosity, which is why it is difficult to keep them apart. The curiosity that propels the first draft is forward-moving. The curiosity that propels the editing moves back and forth through story-time. The questions, though, are the same. Does this work? Is it compelling?

First draft reminder: Keep moving forward.

Buy my books here.

Interested in hiring me as a coach to get you boosted with your writing goals?
Find free resources and information here.
Some past posts to keep you making time: 
Adjust your pace accordingly.
It’s about the routine and how you shake up the routine
There are things you will have to give up
See it to achieve it
Washing the dishes
Write slowly
A celebration of the pause
Monday, a run through the driving rain
Zen accident
Get out of your comfort zone