When I took my first college-level English course, my professor had us read “Shitty First Drafts” (from Bird by Bird) by Anne Lamott. The point? Your first draft is supposed to be shitty. It was something I understood on an intellectual level, but never applied to myself.

In fact, I have a long history of ignoring the revision process. It’s the curse of having your half-hearted writing attempts exceed the expectations of your teachers. That’s not to say my writing was brilliant. It wasn’t. But ...