We often see the finished stages of writing. We see polished, edited, revised essays, poems, books, television shows, movies, etc. Most of the academic conventions of writing are really about hiding the work that went into them.

It’s kind of like seeing a row of cakes in the bakery.

You notice the details that the decorator put on last: the carefully-placed icing and delicate decorations. You don’t see the mess that went into making the cake. You don’t see the broken eggshells, the flour that spilled, the bowls that have to be washed, the extra cake that was cut away to shape it into a heart.

In writing, just like in baking, the mess is the heart of the matter. No matter how well a cake is decorated, when it comes time to eat it, the work that went into making it matters.

Don’t Be Afraid to Make a Mess

When you’re writing (whether it’s a journal entry that only you will see or a cover letter for your dream job), you have to be okay with making a mess. If you are too afraid to make a mess, you’ll end up having a hard time saying anything at all.

What does making a mess mean? It means just writing and seeing what comes out. It means not worrying about the spelling or the punctuation or even if everything makes sense. It means writing things out of order or moving on to something else and leaving a big section labeled “[MORE HERE LATER]” when you get stuck.

Decorating and Baking are Different Skills

It takes a lot of talent to bake a delicious cake, and it takes a lot of talent to decorate one well, too. However, these two tasks are different skills. Some great bakers really struggle to decorate, and some decorators really wouldn’t have a clue how to make the cake beneath their icing.

Writers have to learn to do both. They have to come up with all of the ideas and support them in an organized way. Then they also have to polish them up and make sure the writing is clear and strong.

Trying to do both tasks at once can be completely overwhelming. It is much better to make the cake first and decorate it later. It doesn’t make any sense to put icing on a cake and then stick it in the oven.

When you let go of the need to perfect every sentence and choose just the right word, you can get to the real heart of making a great first draft. Later, you can put on your detail-oriented eyes and make sure every line is exactly the way you want it, but you should save this step for later.

Make a mess first.

Resources

Want to learn more about messy first drafts? Take a look at these links:

• “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott- This is probably one of the most famous essays about making a mess when you write. Author Anne Lamott wrote an entire book about how to write. It’s called Bird by Bird, and this essay is an excerpt. If you’re feeling frustrated with your first draft, give it a read and know you aren’t alone.
• Want to see some actual first drafts of famous works of literature? Take a look at the pictures of works by authors like Marcel Proust, John Updike, and Charles Dickens. It’s clear that these writers were not afraid to make a mess.

If you want to learn more about how to find your own writing process, take a look at the classes and materials available from Dayla Learning.