Tag: learn to write a book in 30 days

First Drafts Are No Place for Perfection

First Drafts Are No Place for Perfection

NaNoWriMo is fast approaching and many of us will be sitting down to attempt no small feat. We’ll be writing a first draft for a story that will eventually become a perfect manuscript.

And note I’ve placed the word eventually in italics.

First drafts are rough drafts, sometimes very rough drafts. Many of mine have no resemblance to the stories they became. Plots got changed, characters who didn’t have a POV got granted a voice, and locations even changed.

What can stop you from writing and meeting your writing goals is trying to write a perfect first draft. There’s no such thing (well only for the lucky few).

When you tackle NaNoWriMo or sit down to write any day of the year, don’t be a perfectionist, be a writer and accept the only way to get a story written, finished, and maybe even published, is to get those words on the screen or paper.

Don’t worry about finding the perfect names for your characters, coming up with natural sounding dialogue. Don’t obsess over your spelling or grammar.

Write your story and then use your second, third or even fourth draft to make it perfect and ready to submit.

National Novel Writing Month

National Novel Writing Month

Old vintage typewriter, close-up.

Are you taking part in this year’s National Novel Writing Month or just itching to write a novel in just 30 days?

Do you want to learn twenty easy to follow tips to help you reach that goal?

Last week I began teaching on a new to me platform called Skillshare. You have to be a member and once you are you can access all the classes they offer including yours truly’s.

They usually have a deal where you can test drive membership for 99 cents for 3 months so if you’re interested in hearing about those twenty tips, here’s the link-

https://www.skillshare.com/classes/writing/20-Tips-to-help-You-Write-a-Novel-in-30-Days-AKA-How-To-Win-the-NaNoWriMo-Challenge

I’ll be adding lots more classes there in the coming months…and other platforms too so stay tuned.