This week,
I’m completing the second draft
of my July release.
Second drafts are emotionally hard
but intellectually easy.
I have a first draft,
a prototype.
I’ve made the major decisions.
I have something to look at,
something to work with.
I can hold the idea in my hands,
see it,
touch it.
Now,
I merely have to tweak it,
adjust this and that,
remove one of these
and add one of those.
Eventually,
I’ll bring other people
(my editor, for example)
into this process.
This will be painful
because these other people,
these critics,
will pick apart my decisions,
decisions that took days to make
and mere moments for them
to find fault with.
But that is why
we create prototypes,
so these critics,
this refiners
have something to work with.
Your prototype
isn’t meant to be the final product.
Remember that
when you’re building it
and when it is being critiqued.