Shitty First Drafts

As long as I can remember, it has always (always, always) taken me three attempts to make something right. Whether it’s the smallest bit of graphic design, the most important copy for an email blast, or even a recipe attempt – it always, always takes at least three tries before I make something that I would even consider sharing with my closest allies.

Thinking about the three attempts, they almost always follow the same pattern:

• The first attempt was just to get the idea out of my head.
• The second attempt was either starting completely over (because attempt one didn’t work), or beginning to hone in on the idea.
• By the third attempt, I am finally starting to get somewhere.

I thought this was just me. Maybe, I wondered, I’m 1/3 slower than the most genius designers, writers or bakers out there.

Turns out, I’m not unique (just like everyone else)!

Talking to other creatives – especially designers and writers – they report the exact same thing: things don’t really start to come into focus until the third attempt at something.

• The first draft is the “down draft”. For me, it’s about getting it out of my head and down on paper.
• The second draft (assuming that I didn’t just immediately throw away your first try entirely) is the “up draft”. I start to clean it up a little bit here and there. Smoothing some edges out in the idea or presentation.
• The third draft (again, assuming I haven’t bailed in shame and private embarrassment) is the “dental draft”. I wish I could take credit for this awesome name, but it was in fact Anne Lamott In Bird by Bird. She named a third draft the dental draft to “check every tooth, to see if it’s loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy”.

Once I came to terms that this is just the creative process, I could embrace it and stop feeling like feel like less of a sham.