Why You Shouldn't Edit While Writing Your First Draft (No, Seriously, Put Down the Red Pen)
You’re sitting at your desk, fingers flying over the keyboard, your story unfolding like a cinematic masterpiece. Then, out of nowhere, a little voice whispers, That sentence is terrible. Fix it.
So, like a responsible writer, you delete. And rewrite. And delete again. And before you know it, you’ve spent 45 minutes trying to perfect one paragraph instead of finishing the chapter. Sound familiar?
It does to me because I literally did this exact thing yesterday.
Let’s talk about why this is the worst possible habit you can have while writing your first draft—and why you gotta resist the temptation to edit as you go.
Inner Critics are too Mean for First Drafts
First drafts are messy and chaotic. They make you question your life choices. But that’s how it should be. First drafts are the time to let your creativity run wild, throw plot twists around like confetti, and just get the story out of your brain and on paper.
Editing now invites your inner critic to start whispering sweet nothings like, This is garbage. Why do you even write? Rude.
You can't be both the creator and the editor at the same time. Writing requires freedom; editing requires judgment. If you try to do both, you’ll end up second-guessing every word.
You’ll Lose Momentum
Nothing kills writing flow faster than stopping every five seconds to tweak a sentence. When you're constantly editing, you’re not allowing yourself to sink into the story—that magical place where words pour out effortlessly and you feel like a genius writing the best thing that’s ever been written (at least for a little while).
First drafts are about momentum. It’s about getting to The End.
The First Draft Isn’t Supposed to Be Good
Nobody writes a perfect first draft. Not even your favorite bestselling author. Every book you’ve ever loved was once a messy pile of words that barely made sense. Most of my first drafts read like a deranged raccoon and distracted squirrel co-wrote it.
Your job in the first draft isn’t to make it pretty. It’s to make it exist. You can’t edit a blank page, but you can edit a rough one. You can write badly now and make it gorgeous later.
Editing While Writing is Fancy Procrastination
How many times have you told yourself, I just need to fix this one thing before I move on...and then spent the next two hours hyper-focusing on a single paragraph?
Constant editing gives you the illusion of productivity, but really, it’s just a sneaky way to avoid the hard part: finishing the draft. Your brain loves immediate rewards, and tweaking a sentence feels like progress, even if it’s not moving your story forward. Don’t fall for it!
So What Should You Do Instead?
Word vomit: Let your ideas flow freely without worrying about sentence structure or word choice.
Make notes instead of fixing things immediately: If something feels off, highlight it, leave a comment, and keep writing.
Set a goal and stick to it: give yourself rules to keep moving forward. With a clear goal, you can work each day to hit it. Even something like 100 words or 5 minutes is enough!
Writing a first draft is hard. Let it be messy. Let it be imperfect. You can fix everything after you have a complete draft to work with.
So step away from that delete key, keep your inner editor locked away, and write. Future you will be grateful AND you’ll finish your book.
Now, go forth and embrace the deranged raccoons!
