The Value of Drafting

One obstacle that stands between me and writing is that I wait to write things down. Or another way of saying it is that I under use and under value drafts. I used to think little of drafts in school. However, this view is arrogant and unproductive. I find that I often work through ideas in my head: editing, refining, critiquing, and evaluating them before committing them to paper. It is arrogant to assume that I can produce print-quality writing entirely in my head. I also give up on far too many ideas, without working them out on paper. Writing a draft is often very helpful. One cannot often tell the worth of a story until it is a story. Story is made up of words and sentences and grammar, and until it is expressed by these means it cannot be effectively evaluated. A humble writer will perhaps throw away most of his drafts, but to never write them is laziness, not lack of talent. A writer with no drafts is a dead writer.