The longer I write, the more important I believe it is to write the first draft as fast as possible. In drafting, I push myself so I am at the edge of discomfort...Later, it will be time for consideration and reconsideration, slow, careful revision and editing. But on the first draft I have to achieve velocity, just as you do if you want the bike to balance.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of quickly producing a first draft without overthinking, allowing for creativity to flow.
In this quote, Donald Murray discusses the significance of writing the first draft swiftly to unleash creativity and ideas without the hindrance of self-doubt or excessive scrutiny. He asserts that pushing through discomfort and achieving a 'velocity' in writing is crucial to finding balance in the creative process, which can later be fine-tuned during the revision phase. This approach encourages writers to prioritize initial expression over perfection, fostering a more productive writing experience.
In practice
In a writing workshop, when discussing strategies for overcoming writer's block, I would share this quote to encourage participants to write freely.
I don't teach literature from my perspective as 'Joyce Carol Oates.' I try to teach fiction from the perspective of each writer. If I'm teaching a story by Hemingway, my endeavor is to present the story that Hemingway wrote in its fullest realization.
People rarely speak of children; you hear of 'cohort groups' and 'standard variations,' but you don't hear much of boys who miss their cats or 6-year-olds who have to struggle with potato balls.
If it is right that schools should be maintained by the whole community for the well-being of the whole, it is right also that libraries should be so maintained.
The most important service rendered by the press and the magazines is that of educating people to approach printed matter with distrust.
The colleges, while they provide us with libraries, furnish no professors of books; and I think no chair is so much needed.
I tell my students that the single most powerful thing that we have in this country - something that literally harbors no dissent and no questioning - is the all-powerful elite narrative.
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