The first draft of this book, 90K words long, took a little less than six weeks. What I learned in this experience, above all else, is how not to write a book.įast forward a few years, and I wrote my second book. Mostly, I was wasting time.īy the end, I ended up with a 150K word behemoth and was so tired of looking at it that I couldn’t bring myself to write another draft. I even paid for several fancy book-writing tools. I dreamed of the idea for at least two years, wrote bits and pieces, put it aside, changed my mind on and off, forgot where the story was going in between months of inaction, made notes, lost notes, renamed the characters, redesigned the plot, made the story too short, then too long, and everything in between. Altogether, if you count the time from the inception of the idea and the bits and pieces of poorly conducted planning, it took at least six. My first book took me three years, and that’s just the time it took to write one draft. After all, it's morning and you work better as a night owl.īut sooner or later, you realize that these are just excuses. Maybe the “time of day” just feels wrong for writing. Maybe you get distracted by something shiny on social media, and promise yourself the writing will come the next day, when you “feel it”. Maybe you are telling yourself, “One day I will start, that day will definitely come.” Doing this give yourself a little vote of confidence, even though you have no idea when that day will actually happen. When you sit down in front of that endless blank page and think about your writing project, does it look utterly, incredibly vast, like a white desert waiting to be filled? Do you feel yourself wanting to stop before you even start, putting your book off for yet another day, because the idea of putting that many words on paper just feels too daunting? Do you find yourself going down that rabbit hole of “I'll never be able to do this”? How I Learned to Write Faster First Drafts Julia Bleakney is the director of The Writing Center.Want full access to The Write Fast System book? You can make an appointment with our online scheduling system, or just drop-by without an appointment.ĭr. Consultants can help you brainstorm, organize, plan, cite, revise, or develop proofreading techniques-and more!Īpproximately 40 Writing Center consultants, all highly-trained undergraduate students, are eager to work with you. All types of writing are encouraged, from traditional academic essays to mixed-media projects such as research posters, slideshow presentations, or even videos. You can come to The Writing Center at any stage of the writing process–from beginning to understand the assignment or project, to notes, to a rough draft, or even a final draft. The Writing Center strives to be a welcoming and non-judgmental place where all writers, regardless of experience or expertise, can work with a peer to improve their writing. Located in Belk Library, Elon University’s Writing Center provides direct support to individuals or groups. Members of the Elon community-students, staff, faculty, and community members-are encouraged to visit the Writing Center with all of their writing projects, including academic writing, professional writing, personal writing, and extra-curricular writing. These resources include workshops in partnership with Learning Assistance, regular student writing get-togethers, and a blog offering writing tips, written by Writing Center consultants and Center for Writing Excellence directors. We also offer a range of in-person and online resources. Only consultants designated as online can hold online appointments.15-minute online appointments will be canceled or extended to 30 minutes. Online appointments must be booked for at least 30 minutes. Appointments are held within our appointment system.
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