I can hear you now.
“Wait a minute! Didn’t he say I’m supposed to trust my first draft? Isn’t it the result of all my hard work? What gives?”
The fact is, Chapters 26 and 29 work together perfectly. This is the yang to Chapter 26's yin. The jelly to Chapter 26's peanut butter...
You get the point.
Right after you finish your first draft, your internal editor would like nothing more than to have you rip it up and throw it out.
But it's worth so much more than that.
So we've given it a fair shake. And we've given it adequate time.
Why do you do it?
When you finish your first draft, you are holding in your hands the written equivalent of a handful of pure coal.
You’ve recognized it’s value: it contains all the elements you need to reach your audience with the information they're interested in, in the manner that works best to accomplish the purpose you have set out for it.
So now you start proofreading.
You put your words under pressure. You give it time. You cut it, you squeeze it some more, and you heat it up again.
Then, you read it aloud. More imperfections are becoming obvious, but you can see its inner beauty shining through.
So at this point, you're ruthless. Merciless.
Now's your chance to cut it close and polish it to a brilliant shine.
Now what do you have in your hands? Where you used to have that lump of coal, you now find a gorgeous diamond, ready for display.
The point is, don’t fall in love with the functional coal you started with. Sure, it’s got value. But when you look at it next to the diamond it can become, it’s initial value pales in comparison.
How do you do it?
Take full advantage of the proofreading methods described. Make the necessary changes and polish your words until they reach that level of excellence you’re shooting for.
Run through the writing-proofreading-reading aloud cycle as many times as necessary to eliminate every item that jumps out at you.
Exercise #25 – Trash Your First Draft
1. Pull out that first draft you marked up in Exercises #23 and #24.
2. Fix all the errors you noticed, then read it aloud again.
3. Rinse and repeat with extreme prejudice until you're certain this piece of content is as good as you can possibly make it.
4. Read the next chapter.