There is an epidemic that is spreading through groups of writers around the world. Day after day, writers drag their tired fingers and cloudy eyes to my office and ask for a cure.

The symptoms they describe are all too familiar:

~ Writers Block

~ Disorganization

~ Frustration

~ Inability to create a coherent sentence

~ Problems with generally simple tasks such as spelling

Sometimes the disease is only in its early stages and the writers have a few pages that they have managed to create but refuse to share out of embarrassment. Other people with more severe distress claim that the blank page (or computer screen) silently mocks them. They are sure that they will never write again.

The diagnosis is not the commonly called “writer’s block” as many claim, but rather the rough draftitis that is easily cured. Too often, writers are in a rush to get their ideas into print or to finish a project. Often what they try to do in an effort to “save time” is skip one or more steps in their personal writing process. They then discover that instead of saving time, they are wasting it while struggling to write their draft.

The cure is simple. Let your personal writing process run at your own pace. Use time to your advantage and give your brain the space and time it needs to work its magic. Most important of all, you give yourself permission to write a really crappy draft.

Who says a draft has to be something wonderful and readable? Often the reason writers struggle with their draft is that they are not actually writing a draft. They have a vision in their head of the perfect final draft that they hope to create and for some reason they hope that the final draft will be born complete and wonderful at their fingertips. Silly writer, the beautiful final drafts are not made of whole fabric, but are cut, sewn and patched with the good parts of rather imperfect drafts. Beautifully designed writing takes time and takes more than one draft to create.

The next time you find yourself battling rough draftitis, take the following recipe:

~ Sit your butt on a chair and start writing. Don’t get up from your chair until the draft is complete.

~ Do not reread or revise as you write.

~ Don’t worry about spelling, grammar, or the perfect choice of words.

~ Don’t worry about organization or details.

~ Concentrate on filling in a certain number of pages or jotting down a certain number of ideas or thoughts. When you have achieved this goal, put the newly created eraser aside and consider yourself cured.

Once you let go of that vision of the perfect eraser (a rarer beast than the purple polka dot unicorn) you’ll be on your way to that much more accessible quarry – the perfect final eraser. Just remember that to pocket your prize you have to give yourself and your brain time to work on the drafts necessary to solve all those problems with organization and development, as well as the superficial errors, such as grammar and spelling, that you ignored when write the original draft. .

Writing a really ugly draft is a wonderfully liberating experience, and can often be accomplished in a surprisingly short amount of time. You’ll soon wonder why you wasted your time contemplating the perfect action verb or adjective. Once you have that eraser, no matter how difficult it is, you are on your way. It is much easier to create and shape something existing in your vision than it is to create that vision on a blank page. Sometimes a really ugly eraser can be a beautiful thing.