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Ann Sloan's avatar

Hi Sarah! A lesson I learned too late and wish I had understood from the get-go: first drafts are not supposed to be good. We are trained to defeat ourselves up by raising our (self) expectations to dizzying heights...ones that are unachievable...at the first try. There's a reason some people call them "vomit drafts." We were all terrible the first time we rode a bike but improved with each attempt. Subsequent drafts are us getting back on the bike after someone has made observations about where our technique can be improved. I'll paraphrase Sheldon Epps' famous maxim and name of his very popular book --"Screenwriting is Rewriting" -- by saying "Writing is Rewriting." I firmly believe the magic comes AFTER the first draft. So don't let a less than effusive response to a first draft get you down. It's just the first draft...not the final. Good luck and I can't wait to see where you arrive with the Girl in Space novel. It's going to be brilliant!

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York Campbell's avatar

I go through this all the time for me I consider it a challenge, not in the negative but in the opposite. It helps me to thing of new ways to twist the story and to stretch my creativity.

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