I often tell people the hardest part about the job (writing, ‘natch) is staring down the blank page. That moment when nothing is fully created and you have to give birth to it and commit. It can feel like the wrong word, the wrong image plucked from your head, can ruin everything that comes after it. I’ve spent a lot of time staring down blank pages. Plot in hand, knowing what I have to do, no questions in my mind – still that first page is blank and I stop and consider it from every angle all over again.

The blank page is a constant struggle. And there is nothing to do for it. Not really. But, when I was younger, that paled even to a bigger problem: editing as I went.

I would write a bit and then stop for the day. So far no problem. Except then the next day I would go to start up again and re-read what I did the day before. Which is when I would start editing it. Then I would spend hours editing, adjusting, tweaking, and not get any writing done. Eventually I would grow weary of the project since it seemed to never get anywhere, it would be stuck in this one place and I should move on.

See the problem there?

The piece wasn’t stuck. I was. Critical difference, frankly. Editing and writing are two different jobs. Don’t whistle while you piss. This applies to plotting and writing as well, for the record. Do one job at a time and do it well. When you’re writing – write.

It’s hard to let go and move forward with that, though. Well, at first. Because you don’t want to keep writing a scene when the front half of it could be improved. Then, if the back half is so much better it won’t flow right and then how can you hope to have a good finished project and what do you do if … stop. Shut up. That is what editing is for and you’ll get there.

The importance of a first draft is not to be ultra mega super robo-clean. The purpose of a first draft is to take the skeleton of your plot and hang a body on it. Then, after you have a body, you can edit it. Editing is sculpting.

Remember that!

Plotting is building a skeleton. Writing is putting meat on dem bones. Editing is sculpting the flesh until it fits on the bones the way you want.

Once you get that down in your head you can see why you don’t do any two of those jobs at once. You can’t put meat on bones you haven’t finished. You can’t sculpt when you don’t have all the flesh in place to sculpt with.

Plotting before writing, quick digression, is one of those things every forgets. It’s so easy to say “I’ll figure it out when I get there” and suddenly you’re hip deep in a scene with no idea where to go next and you have to stop writing to work it out and … flying by the seat of your pants can be fun and I’m not saying plot everything out in gross detail before you start, but prepare yourself each day before you sit down. Anyway!

So you do one job at a time and suddenly we’re back to staring at a blank page. See how I did that? Because staring at a blank page, even when you have a plot, happens. But most of the stoppage is one of wanting to edit while you write, hell before you write even. So let go and just write. Don’t fret about it. Let yourself go and write and you can deal with it later.

Write. Finish the story / comic / song / script. Then go back and fix that fucker until it is the right shape and works ass to elbow. Then move on to the next project. That’s the job. Do your job.

But a closing note to explain exactly how I do not follow my own advice, and when I think you really shouldn’t either. See openings are the key. I will write an entire novel and not look back – so long as the opening is right. I don’t edit it, really, but I will wipe it all out and start again, or put in major changes. It’s the only time I let myself do that. Because the opening has to set tone, so that when I go to edit I have a good point to look at and start from.

I even have a metric for it. I allow myself the first 5000 words of a novel/novella, the first 1 or 2000 words of a short story (depending on how long it has to be) and first 2 pages of a comic script. Those are my margins for wiping and restarting and changing and setting tone. Once I pass that point I am set and will continue working until a project is done before going back and making major structural changes and editing.

But within that opening frame I allow myself the freedom to obsess a bit. Not critically, not for days on end, but for long enough to make sure I get something workable down. How you know, even when you’re letting yourself, that you’ve gone too far and need to just work – well shit that you have to find your own scale for. You’ll know it when you see it, generally. Just listen closely and don’t beat yourself up and do your work.

I’ve rewritten openings to stories upwards of twenty times (inside a few hours mind you) until they were close enough to right I could keep going. And sometimes I get it close enough I don’t need to.

Once I’m past that though – one job at a time, do it well, and keep moving. Blank pages and editing fears will only hold you back as long as you let them. So stop worrying and create. There are an infinite number of stories to tell in a limitless number of ways across so many mediums – why stall yourself instead of exploring?