How Do You Convince Yourself to Write That Messy First Draft? | Dear Writer # 19

101 Writer Questions Answered!

Jul 31, 2025

Maybe it’s because I care too much about getting something right first time, but in the past, I would meticulously create near-perfect chapters, then lose motivation and bin the idea because it took a week to do 2,000 words.
Recently, I've been doing what everyone says, which is to bang out that crappy first draft and not pay too much attention to quality.
Well, it’s working. I'm up to 10,000 words In three days.But I'm struggling to tell myself that I should keep going. Because whenever I look over my current work, it’s pretty much trash. The lack of obvious self-improvement is very demoralizing.
I guess this came out as a rant, but my question is more of a “How do you keep yourself motivated, especially when your work looks like garbage?”

Dear Writer,

I identify with much of what you've written here, as do most artists and writers at one point or another.

As a perfectionist, it’s difficult for me to build on an imperfect foundation. My natural inclination in writing is to write cyclically: I start strong, then continually reread what I've written day after day, adding a few hundred words at a time, but always reviewing what I've written, all the while progressing, albeit quite slowly.

When I was in grad school, this worked for me because I was a twentysomething single guy who didn't sleep very much and had no gaming PC. I could afford to operate that way back then. Now, that's not the case, and what once worked for me no longer can. The rhythm of my life won't allow for it.

It's commonly said that "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Similarly, "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten." At some point, each of us plateau.

If you want to break the boundaries of your current threshold of success, you have to do things that don't come naturally to you.

It seems you're already finding fresh success by adopting this mindset. Good on you.

Here is some practical advice I hope you find actionable.

What you think is perfect right now won’t look perfect six months from now.

The more you improve, the more you'll find that your older work isn’t up to your current standard. Once you realize this, it’ll be easier for you to just write and move forward. The best of your writing gets done in the editing, but without narrative bones, there's no place to put the meat good editing yields.

I don’t discount for myself or for others the importance of the inspiration that makes us write in the first place.

Sometimes a chapter or an idea hits you hard and you must write it immediately.

Even so, that work is later adjusted. What matters most is capturing the “big effect” of those moments when they come. They’re so important for good stories, but you can’t build a story with them alone. That's where discipline comes in.

As you improve, your baseline standard will rise.

My first drafts now are better than my tenth revisions fifteen years ago. This makes it easier to move forward.

Always examine and reexamine your patterns of behavior.

When something stops working for you, try to determine why. Make needed changes.

Success requires discipline.

Sometimes, the most important thing is simply writing X number of words per day regardless of those words' quality because it's not about the words but about the habit of writing—this is the reason writers tell one another to do this.

It's about developing professional habits.

Think about your end goal(s).

We all start writing because we have something to say, but there must be an end goal. What do you want to do with this thing you've written? The sooner you recognize what the answer to that question is, the sooner you can tailor your habits to match your goals. Is the goal to just share with family and friends? That's not the same level of buy-in as self-publishing or seeking a book deal.

If you want to be a professional writer, act like a professional writer whether or not you're being paid like one.

How do I keep myself motivated?

Well, my work doesn't look like garbage any longer, and you’d better believe that helps.

What keeps me motivated is my goal to tell stories about basically human themes which I love and that I hope a decent number of “true fans” will also love.

When the work slows, I try to figure out why and to make changes so that the work will resume pace.

When the words don't flow, it's usually because we don't know what we're trying to say.

Best,

DRM