37. That big step after drafting

Edric Subur
Jul 25, 2017 · 2 min read

My biggest challenge in writing is not coming up with ideas. It’s putting the ideas together in a constructed and presentable format.

Drafting is easy because there is no pressure to do it well. I will simply pour all the thoughts in my head into the rawest form of texts. They’re jumbled up, badly written and grammatically poor. The kind of writing that you’re ashamed to show anyone and only you will understand.

It’s also easy to throw ideas because there’s no need to provide depths. When I’m stuck in elaborating something, I can leave it there and move on to other streams of thoughts. I can finish writing out all the things I want to talk about in less than 10 minutes. But the process of organizing them could take up to hours.

When editing, I am forced to work with whatever I have in front of me. It’s no longer about touching the surface, but going in-depth. I have to analyze why did I actually come up with that idea, explore why it makes sense, find connections among others.

During that process, I tend to procrastinate a lot. There is now the pressure to write something concrete and of a certain quality. It feels daunting and my survival instinct will attempt to get me out of that situation.

My goal is to develop an awareness for that urge to procrastinate when editing my writing. Instead of succumbing immediately to it, I want to face it head on. Press through the discomfort and get into a state of flow. That I believe, is essential to propel my writing to the next level.

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