“I’m writing a first draft and reminding myself that I’m simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.”
As a Writing Studio consultant, I am reminded daily of this quote by Newberry Honor-winning author Shannon Hale. Students across all skill levels and disciplines sit down across from me, flip open their laptops, and say with embarrassment, “I’m sorry, this essay is really bad. I wrote it last night at like, two in the morning.”
Every time I hear this despairing apology, I am saddened by the chronic lack of confidence that has spread like an epidemic among college writers. When trying to combat this toxic mindset, I believe there is one bit of advice every college writer needs to hear:
Your first draft’s only job is to exist.
As Hale notes, you are shoveling sand into your metaphorical sandbox so you can build castles later. The turrets and spires of your essay do not have to be built when you come to the Writing Studio. All of the little details can come later in your writing process; it is much easier to edit words already on the page than trying to pull them from an empty document. Perfection is never expected nor required in the Writing Studio. There is no need to apologize for the hard work you have put into your essay. Take pride in your progress, no matter how little it may be.
But the question remains, how do you begin shoveling the sand in the first place?
If the dizzying white abyss of an open Word document sends shivers down your spine, fear not: All you have to do is start typing.
Begin by writing everything that you know about your assigned topic. Don’t worry about your grammar or punctuation; let the words flow freely. After you’ve typed your fingers numb, read through what you’ve just written and determine what information is most pertinent to your essay by highlighting or underlining it. From this conglomeration of facts and insights, you should have the skeleton of a thesis and an outline from which you can form a first draft.
Sandcastles are wonderful because they are malleable. If in the middle of your essay you determine one of your main points isn’t working, that is no problem. Take it out and smash it like a tower of sand! You have a whole beach of information around you to construct a new, better main point.
Next time you feel overwhelmed by your first draft, tell yourself that you’re not writing an essay—you’re building a sandcastle. Don’t stress over the lack of perfection the first time around; work to make it better! What matters in the writing process is sitting down in your shoveled sand and taking the time to carefully sculpt and shape the towers of your thesis and drawbridges of your argument into a castle you are proud to call your own.
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Makenna Myers is from San Diego, California. She has a passion for words— reading, writing, and editing them. You can find her at her happiest with a pen in her hand and a blank page before her. Appropriately, she is a junior majoring in humanities with an emphasis in creative writing and a minor in English. Outside of her love creative writing, she has experience writing CMS and MLA formats and has written for professors such as Danger, Armstrong, and Elliott (among many others). She cannot wait to see you in the studio; keep conquering that blank page!