Drafting and Revising

Drafting means getting ideas onto paper or on screen in sentences and paragraphs. In everyday conversation, people usually use the word writing when they talk about the activities involved in drafting. In discussing the writing process, however, the word drafting is more descriptive. It conveys the idea that the final product of the writing process is the result of a number of versions, each successively closer to what the writer intends and to what will communicate clearly to readers.

Revising means taking a draft from its preliminary to its final version by evaluating, adding, cutting, moving material, editing, and proofreading.

Today we will be discussing Drafting in detail.

Getting Started

If you ever have trouble getting started when the time arrives for drafting (or any other part of the writing process), you are not alone. When experienced writers get stalled, they recognize what is happening and deal with it. If you run into a writing block, it may the the result of one of these common myths about writing:

• MYTH: Writers are born, not made.
• FACT: Everyone can write. Writers do not expect to “get it right” the first time. Being a good writer means being a patient rewriter.
• MYTH: Writers have to be “in the mood” to write.
• FACT: If writers always waited for “the mood” to descend, few would write at all. After all, news reporters and other professional writers often have to meet deadlines.
• MYTH: Writers have to know how to spell every word and to recite the rules of grammar perfectly.
• FACT: Writers do not let spelling and grammar block them. They write and then check themselves. A good speller is someone who does not ignore the quiet inner voice that urges checking a dictionary. Similarly, writers use a handbook to check grammar rules.
• MYTH: Writers do not have to revise.
• FACT: Writers expect to revise. Once words are on paper or screen, writers can see what readers see. This “re-vision” helps writers revise so that their writing delivers its intended message.
• MYTH: Writing can be done at the last minute.
• FACT: Drafting and revising take time. Ideas do not leap onto paper or screen in final, polished form.

Once you realize the truths behind myths about writing, you can try the time-proven ways that experienced writers get started when they are blocked. As you use these strategies, suspend judgment: do not criticize yourself when trying to get underway. The time for evaluation comes during revision, but revising too soon can stall some writers. While writing is most certainly not a final draft, having something on paper or screen is a comfort-and can serve as a springboard to drafting.

In our next discussion, we will continue with Drafting and then on to Revising.

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