My online critique
partner recently considered setting a manuscript aside in the middle of the
first draft and not picking it up again until she had a chance to travel to her
story location. Here is the advice I gave her:
The first draft is for getting something down on paper, and
the second and third drafts are for cleaning up the facts as well as everything
else. The first draft may be garbage, but it becomes the fertilizer that
eventually grows a healthy garden. I always try to get the first draft
completed before I put it aside to breathe while I work on something else.
It wasn’t until I wrote
those words that I realized how much writing has in common with gardening.
My father was an avid
gardener. Every year he would turn over the soil, drop seeds in some furrows,
and plant seedlings in others. For fertilizer, he would use compost or animal
waste. Daddy would have been horrified at the very idea of stopping when the
garden was only half planted. Instead, he kept going until everything was in
the ground. (His first draft.)
He may have taken a
slight break then, but soon he was back at work in the garden. He weeded,
watered if there wasn’t enough rain, and added more fertilizer when necessary. (His
second draft.)
When the vegetables were ready
to pick, he harvested them. (His final draft.) Then he brought them to our
table, much as a writer sends his or her story to publishers and agents.
Daddy was a tenacious gardener.
He worked hard, and he never gave up. That’s why he succeeded at growing the healthy
crops you can see in the picture.
So if you are tempted to
set aside that first draft before it is finished, don’t give in. The first
draft may be garbage, but it becomes the compost that grows a healthy garden.
_____
The picture at the top of
this post shows Daddy with the fruit of his garden in LaPrairie, Illinois. My
mother took it when I was three years old. And yes, that little girl is me.
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