Your first draft won’t be as good as it sounded in your head. #NaNoPrep (NaNoWriMo What to Expect series)

Most of the time, you’ll hate what you write.

Your ideas are so awesome in your head but when you write them down on paper they seem like garbage. You’ll get discouraged and frustrated and start to doubt yourself so I want to make sure you know ahead of time that that’s completely normal. Nothing ever seems as good when you first write it down as it does in your head and that’s fine. Your mantra for this month should be: This is only a first draft. As Jane Smiley once said, “Every first draft is perfect, because all a first draft has to do is exist.” It’ll be during the editing process that you’ll actually start to see your story exactly how you first pictured it after fine tuning. For now? Just get it down!