Getting the whole dumb thing done

What a concept! / Issue 1,427

Oh, hi friends!

I laughed when I found this quote tucked into the notes on my phone. 

“Students are frequently unwilling to rewrite, because rewriting suggests to them that what they wrote the first time is wrong, and they don't like that feeling. But it's not that, it's just that writing is a process and you are cleaning up the language.

It's not that you're changing it: you're doing it better, hitting a higher note or a deeper tone or a different color. The revision for me is the exciting part; it's the part that I can't wait for—getting the whole dumb thing done so that I can do the real work, which is making it better and better and better.”

That’s Toni Morrison on writing, editing, and teaching.

I laughed because how true is this?

We resist rewriting because we don’t want to be wrong.

We resist so many things because we don’t want to be wrong. 

But I like her idea that it’s not about changing, but doing it better. 

First, though, we must get the whole dumb thing done. 

Make something with a shape: beginning, middle, end. 

Be proud that it exists; that you created something complete.

And then continue to make it better…

And better…

And better.