The Quiet Case For Writing Badly First

The blank page is rarely a shortage of ideas. It is usually two jobs competing for the same desk.

Two different jobs

Drafting is generous. Editing is severe. Asked to run simultaneously, severity wins every time, and nothing gets written at all.

Separate them by time, not by willpower. Draft in one sitting, edit in another. The bad draft is not a failure state — it is the raw material the second sitting requires.