Why Your First Draft Should Be a Total Mess

Discover the hidden freedom in letting your words spill out unpolished.

It used to take me a lot longer to write. I wanted everything I wrote to be good. Actually, that’s not true—I wanted everything I wrote to be my best. People told me I was a good writer, but I didn’t believe them. So I tried to prove it with every sentence.

I would write one line, then stop. Reread it. Fix it. Change it again. Move a word here, swap out another there. By the time I got to the next sentence, I was drained. What should have been a free-flowing draft turned into a painstaking crawl. Writing felt exhausting, like trying to walk through deep mud.

Thankfully, I discovered something that changed everything: the first draft isn’t supposed to be perfect. In fact, it’s supposed to be messy. That realization gave me permission to finally breathe. Once I let go of the pressure to “get it right” the first time, my writing not only became easier, it also became more honest.

Here are a few truths I’ve learned about messy first drafts:

1. The hardest part of writing is getting thoughts out of our heads.
   The jumble of ideas swirling in your mind won’t organize themselves until they’re on paper.

2. Sometimes we don’t know what we’re thinking until we write.
   Writing is discovery. The act of putting words down often reveals what we really believe or want to say.

3. A first draft is like a skeleton.
   It provides structure, but it’s not the whole body. It will need muscles, skin, and a beating heart added later through editing and revision.

4. No one writes a perfect first draft.
   Not your favorite author. Not the bestselling writers you admire. Every polished book on your shelf started as a messy beginning.

5. There are tools and editors to help us polish our manuscripts.
   That’s what revision is for—shaping, refining, and clarifying. You don’t have to do it all at once, and you don’t have to do it alone.

   

If you’ve been staring at a blank page or screen, waiting for brilliance to arrive, let me reassure you: brilliance doesn’t come first. The messy draft does. Your job is simply to get the words down. You can—and will—make them better later.

So give yourself permission today. Open your notebook or laptop, take a deep breath, and let the words tumble out, messy and imperfect. That’s where the real magic of writing begins.

I’ve created a Writing Tracker that helps you record your progress, celebrate your wins, and see your writing add up day by day. It’s a simple but powerful way to build momentum—especially when those early drafts feel chaotic.

👉 This tracker is available for paid subscribers. If you’d like to grab your copy (and get access to future tools & templates I’ll be sharing each month), consider upgrading today.

Your words matter. Let’s make space for them—messy drafts and all. 💛

Got a messy first draft story? Share it in the comments—and pass this along to a writer who needs the reminder today.