Introducing...FIRST DRAFT FEBRUARY!

If you participate in Tara Lazar's Storystorm (https://taralazar.com/) in January, then you have a bunch of lovely ideas, just waiting to bloom into stories! And if you haven't tried it, check it out next year!

Regardless, let's make this February a month of first drafts! 

February is always rough for me, so I'm trying to make it as fun as possible. 

Why not have another month-long, low-stakes challenge to make things more interesting? (And also trick myself into doing the things!)

I want to give myself (and yourself) the freedom & permission to create with no thoughts of... 

"This will be THE draft that becomes the next story I query!" 

or, "I love this story the most of any story I've ever written! Now I shall dedicate myself entirely to this story until its PERFECT!"

or, "I also need to revise that other story, and read picture books, and query, and revise, and....."

or, (insert your own inner dialogue).

ONLY focusing on quantity this month, will allow us to produce even more quality later on. 

The RULES:

1. Write as many full SFDs (shitty first drafts) as you can this February. 

2. No revising allowed! 

3. Don't even think about revising!

4. You are only competing against yourself. If you wrote more than last month, or last February, or last YEAR, whatever your goal is, THEN...

5. On March 1, post "I'm a FirstDraftFriday winner!" with the #FirstDraftFebruary on Bluesky or FB

So lets do it! Happy First Draft February to all!

P.S. I would love to leave you with an excerpt from Ray Bradbury's Zen in the Art of Writing from pages 108 &109, about the importance of quantity to build quality, but really do yourself a favor and read the whole book.