You are the hack who butchers your ideas. It’s okay. That’s true for everyone. We butcher our ideas when we commit them to paper or hit publish.
But it must be done.
Otherwise we freeze. And never write. We fear the botched performance. The corruption of sublime ideas once they hit the atmosphere.
Corruption, however, is essential to creation.
See, there are two modes to creation. First, there is the birth of the idea, which happens in your head. Second, you turn that idea into reality (hit publish), which usually confirms your suspicion: the idea wasn’t that great.
But here’s the thing.
Rough drafts will almost never reflect your original idea. A rough draft reflects sloppy thinking. And the older the writer you are the better you understand that principle.
See, rewriting — an arduous task — helps you to think clearly. So the more you write not only the better writer you become — but the better your thoughts become, too.
In other words, as your writing improves so do your ideas. But that’s not all.
Over time the opinion of your ideas decreases. Which should encourage you.
Since your ideas are not as great as you think they are the damage done by publishing them is diminished. So, you publish frequently. And frequent publishing forces you to come up with new ideas faster.
Which means more opportunity to stumble across a truly great idea. Just like any numbers game.
Image source: Leon Ephraïm