Kelford Labs Daily: Edit.
Fix what needs fixing.
“Great writers are not necessarily those people who write a good first draft, but rather those people who can write a bad first draft quickly and then edit it to develop their ideas.”
— Smith & Lewis, Both/And Thinking
This is the secret to great writing: It’s actually great editing.
Very few writers can craft a perfect first draft. Most writing that we enjoy, learn from, or act upon is the product of thorough editing.
It’s what author George Saunders calls “ritual banality avoidance.”
Going back through what we’ve written and taking out what’s too obvious, unclear, or boring.
Our marketing deserves—requires—the same attention.
We can’t expect that our first attempt at a social post, advertisement, video, blog, or newsletter is going to be an instant classic. We’ve got to edit, refine, and fix what needs fixing until there’s nothing left to strip away.
The good news is that we don’t have to agonize over our first drafts—we can just get going.
Because the real magic is in the edit.
