Acronyms are slowly, but surely chipping away at our brains—what is the ETA of the CPK, ‘cause the CEO is LOL in his BMW.
So forgive me when I add one: SFD = Shitty First Draft. I’ve found it quite useful in my writing. Tough press release? No problem. Just rough it together as best you can with the info you have available and fill in the blanks later. Given the SFD, a spectacular final product is relatively painless. Edit here, polish there: presto!
I think the SFD can apply to just about any project. Take our home office. Now the “S” in SFD is all we’ve got covered at this point—but the idea of getting the items into a bit of organized chaos is a good one. Once each piece of paper, each binder clip, each random cord and jar of coins is in a designated spot—actually setting up the office will be a matter of editing.
Funny thing though. The SFD has been harder to come by in my fiction writing. I’ve a hard time not making it perfect the first time around—and not just with my current project. My writing group used to make fun of me because I had the story so fleshed out by the time my turn came around, I wasn’t prepared for their feedback and (gasp) –the idea of making changes. I was horribly derailed a few months ago when I read an amazing book (“The Help”) and realized my book was sorely lacking.
Well—duh.
The joy of the SFD IS that it is sorely lacking. And that’s OK. In fact, if its only purpose is to remove the chains we put on ourselves to be perfect the first try—freeing us to write crappy, misspelled, nonsensical tangents (that ultimately get us closer to where we need to be)—then that’s just f-ing brilliant.
Or, as I like to say, JFB. K?