Hammer Out a First Draft

For a couple decades I tried to write a novel and never managed to finish a dozen attempts.

I would always get more and more wrapped around the axle the farther I would get into a project. I would always go back and revise and tune and never finish.

It wasn't until I was challenged to just hammer my way through an entire first draft without revising ever. Scrivener helped a lot with this. It has real time spell check and automatic repair. Once I allowed myself to move along it was easy. Knowing the first draft would be far from perfect freed me.

Another thing that happens when you constantly go back and revise and edit from the beginning is that you get an unbalanced book. The beginning will not have the same voice as the end. This is simply because the beginning had been gone over so much more than the end. I have read dozens of books like this.

--Hammer through all the way to the end. Then go back. You will feel great!