3. Getting a Clump of “Clay” & Altucher’s Sculpting Process

- October 3 -

“Get the first draft done no matter what…
[Then] (s)culpt the ugly mass of clay you are left with. People say this is rewriting. I prefer to think of this as sculpting.”
- “The Horrible Things About Being a Full Time Writer” by James Altucher

Admittedly, moving from Hemingway way calling first drafts “shit,” in day 2, to Altucher’s “clay sculpting” metaphor today, is a less than ideal transition. However, this series of posts is a first pass, and still needs sculpting, like any first draft.

The important part to us at this point is not stopping. Not getting hung up on the details. Getting our idea out, even if a reader might misinterpret it. A first draft is raw and personal.

If you start the process thinking of who will consume your work you will do them a disservice. Filter the raw parts — the real content — from the start and you’ll end up with grape juice, not wine (okay, we’re not sure… we’re no connoisseurs, but you get the idea).

You’ve got to put everything in at first, let it ferment, then start to filter, rewrite, or sculpt for your audience.

First drafts can’t survive self-consciousness.

The revising, the refining, is what you have to do for your readers, later. That is when the wine gets the earthy hints, the musk, the… Okay, I’ll shut up. I don’t want to be that guy.

You know that guy. The one that overthinks things. The one that can’t stop talking about the wine, overthinking the acidity, the fruity notes; the one that you wonder if he’s even stopped to enjoy the wine. Enjoy the writing like the wine, don’t overthink it. Or as James puts it,

“Too many people agonize paragraph by paragraph.
Rush to the finish line. Then go back and walk over every step you made and see what you can do better. This is the real gift you give your reader.”
- “The Horrible Things About Being a Full Time Writer” by James Altucher

Through November, do as James suggests and run until you get a sculptable lump… of clay. Get your “shit” out as Hemingway affectionately called it; then reshape, rearrange, and revise.

Don’t worry about being misunderstood in your first draft. Let two analogies that shouldn’t be next to each other just be. You know you’re not as dumb, creepy, or any adjective as your first draft might make you seem.

Get your first draft done no matter what. Don’t stop… Can’t stop… Won’t stop. Just like Weird Al wrote in his raps..?

@jaltucher