On Second Draft Things
Things You Don't Have To Worry About Now
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[Rough]
While you are writing your first rough draft, you only need to focus on getting some words written down roughly in order.
You don't need to worry about:
- Font, line spacing, or probably even adding italics and bold. Focus on the writing. Keep going.
- Margins, columns, or page layout. Focus on the writing. Keep going.
- Headers, footers, or page numbers. Focus on the writing. Keep going.
- Title pages, copyright notices, or any front matter. Focus on the writing. Keep going.
- Chapter numbers, titles, or lengths. Focus on the writing. Keep going.
- Proper punctuation, grammar and spelling. Focus on the writing. Keep going.
Obviously, you can think about these things and spend a bit of time on them. For example, I do like to set up my editor a bit before I start (Andalé Mono 14 point font). Page numbers are nice to have if you print out your story and drop the pile of pages on the floor and have to put them back in order again.
But these things are not writing. Pretending to be a publisher because you like the way books look and go together isn't wrong or anything, but its not getting you any closer to your writing goals either.
Rough drafts are supposed to be, as the name implies, rough. Its perfectly fine for them to be a mess. The only goal is that they have to be better than a blank page, and they automatically are, because something is always better than nothing. Keep going.