There is a moment many writers know well.
You write a sentence. Read it again. Change a word. Read it again. Delete half of it. Put some of it back.
Twenty minutes later, you are still working on the same paragraph.
It can feel like you are being careful with your writing. But sometimes, perfectionism is quietly keeping you from writing at all.
During a recent In the Writer’s Chair conversation, novelist and longtime journalist John Winn Miller shared a simple approach to first drafts: instead of worrying about writing the perfect sentence, he focuses on writing the next one. He knows he can come back and clean it up later.
That small shift can change the way you approach an entire first draft.
Your First Draft Has a Different Job
Writing and revising ask different things of you.
When you are drafting, you are discovering what happens next. You may be finding the character’s voice, following an unexpected idea, or realizing that the story needs to go somewhere you had not planned.
When you stop after every sentence to perfect it, you repeatedly interrupt that process.
The first draft does not need to prove that you can write beautifully. It needs to give you something to work with.
Revision is where you can question the word choice, strengthen the dialogue, tighten the pacing, and turn an awkward sentence into a better one.
But you cannot revise a sentence you never wrote.
Give Yourself Permission to Keep Going
Miller described himself as forgiving while he writes because he does not want to become discouraged.
That may be one of the most useful habits a writer can develop.
Being forgiving does not mean lowering your standards. It means recognizing that high standards do not have to be applied at every stage of the process. Sometimes what looks like a writing problem is actually a belief that says your work has to be good before you’re allowed to keep going. Those kinds of invisible cages can hold writers back far more than a lack of skill.
Your first draft can contain clumsy sentences. It can have gaps. You can leave yourself a note that says, “research this later,” and keep moving.
There will be time to make it better.
For now, when you catch yourself trying to make a sentence perfect before allowing yourself to continue, try asking a different question.
Not, “Is this good enough?”
Just:
What is the next sentence?
Write that one.
Then write the next.
Join our writer's community IN THE WRITERS STUDIO for connection with other writers, free training in writing craft and up-to-date marketing techniques, and practical insights that will make your life easier.