I’ve been around writers frequently enough to know that the most shared experience among us is that moment when we look at our own writing and say to ourselves: “Wow, that is a real piece of shit.” This moment can be discouraging and even a little embarrassing. But I am here to say fuck those feelings! Let your writing be crap.

If there is anything I’ve learned from my years of writing, it is that the first few drafts of anything—be it poetry, fiction, an essay, or even a grocery list—will be utter crap. Hell, even Stephen King himself goes through a few drafts before he publishes his next behemoth of a novel.

No one is immune to a shitty draft.

Don’t let your god-awful draft discourage you from writing. God knows I don’t. Writing is re-writing. Sometimes you have to wrestle with a piece a few times to get it into not-so-bad shape (and then a few more times before you can confidently say: “Wow, this is really not bad”).

Recently I finished writing a story that I’ve been working on for something like five years, and it’s gone through so many drafts. There was a draft where I hated the ending, a draft where I hated the beginning, a draft where I had to re-write the whole thing because I lost the original, a draft where I had to go back and work on my shitty character building and imagery, and a draft where I had to fix some of the Spanish dialogue.

To be completely honest, I am not sure what draft I’m on for this story anymore. Regardless, it took me quite a few go-throughs to get it to a place where I’m happy with the story. That being said, it has been a while since I’ve last read it, so I’ll probably look back at it and feel it needs more work—such is the life of a writer.

The point is, don’t be afraid to let your writing be shitty. Smear that crap all over the page. Just get something on the page and worry about the rest on the re-writes. And if nothing else, take solace in the fact that there are plenty of published books out there (some by well-known authors) that could have gone through another shitty draft or two.