When Your Writing is Garbage

October 22, 2012 in Creativity, Dreams, Quick Reads with 11 Comments


I have been doing the Writers Unite challenge for the last few weeks and I thought I’d give you an update. It’s been a bit of a roller coaster honestly—but I have really enjoyed the ride. It is fantastic to see a group of writers bond together to encourage each other to do the writing that matters. I formed a Facebook group that has 42 amazing members! If you’d like to join, just email me jim@unknownjim.com.

A couple days ago,  I was disappointed with some of my writing. I thought it was terrible. Just absolutely terrible.

Then I thought of this quote.

“There is no great writing, only great rewriting.”  Justice Brandeis

Readers don’t care about your writing at any point before you publish.

Only after.

So go ahead and write garbage.

Write the worst words ever written.

Then edit, edit, edit.

It will take time—often more time than you want to spend—editing.

But that’s okay.

This is how it must be done.

There are no short cuts.

So write garbage, edit it, and make it beautiful.

Then publish it. 

 

What do you do when you feel like you’ve written something terrible? Do you scrap it or edit, edit, edit?

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  • http://www.facebook.com/yvette.carol Yvette Carol

    Yes, exactly, Jim. Sometimes you have to give yourself permission, right? I had to write the all-important first chapter of my next book. But I wanted it to be so perfect I couldn’t get started. It wasn’t until I decided I’d get the words down and make them perfect later, that I could get over the hurdle. I feel soooo good now that the first chapter is done!!

  • http://intentionaltoday.com/ Ngina Otiende

    Sometimes I’ll come across a blogger who “bravely” shares a ‘raw’ draft of a blog post, without any editing, and calls for views from readers. I get floored because usually, their raw draft resembles my 6th or 10th edit :) . Yeah, english is not my first language (it’s a third!). So edit edit edit is my middle name :)

  • A.M. Matte www.ammatte.ca

    This weekend, I got stuck in the middle of a story. I couldn’t figure out how to carry on without, as you put it, writing garbage. Then, I got over myself and reminded myself (outloud; I speak to myself often) that it doesn’t matter if it’s not flawless when it first lies on the page, as long as I know where I want to go and go boldly. I can tinker and polish and perfect later.

    • http://unknownjim.com/ Jim Woods

      That is awesome! There’s nothing wrong with telling yourself what you know you need to hear :)

  • http://www.brandongilliland.com/ Brandon Gilliland

    Great thoughts! The important thing is to just write. You can always edit. Most of the time, my first draft is not my ideal manuscript. After a few revisions, I’m ready to publish.

    Great stuff!

    • http://unknownjim.com/ Jim Woods

      Thanks Brandon! Just writing is about 95-99% of the battle isn’t it!!!

  • http://KatieAxelson.com/ Katie Axelson

    I do a little bit of both. If I scrap it, I save the document so I can un-scrap it later if necessary.

    • http://unknownjim.com/ Jim Woods

      That’s a good approach Katie! Love it!!!

  • http://www.jmlalonde.com Joe Lalonde

    When I have written garbage, I edit and then ship. If it’s not up to par, it’s not up to par. Sometimes you just got to ship.

    • http://unknownjim.com/ Jim Woods

      That’s bold Joe! I would agree with that most of the time. Some work it is just a judgement call for me.