I know it sounds obvious but it’s worth noting that the first draft isn’t the final product.

When writing a first draft, I have to remind myself constantly that I’m only shoveling sand into a box so later I can build castles.

Shannon Hale (2015). Twitter (account no longer exists).

Which means that there’s a lot of work you can safely ignore while you’re busy with the first draft.

• It doesn’t need to be good.
• It doesn’t need to make sense.
• It doesn’t need to be logical (or have any kind of structure at all).

This is just a gentle reminder that the first draft isn’t the sandcastle. It’s the raw material you’re gathering, a lot of which you may even end up throwing away.