Embrace the Suck

A For What It's Worth SFTJ Submission

I’m a list guy. If I don’t write it down, chances are that it won’t get done. And I’m constantly jotting down a writing idea or any words of wisdom I may run across. I do have dedicated journals for certain projects, but they’re not always at hand. So I love to look through old notepads when I run across them.

“You can always edit a bad page. You can never edit a blank page.” -Jodi Picoult

I ran across this quote from Jodi Picoult this morning. I’d run out of paper on my current notepad, while working on the selection and order of my upcoming Non-Fiction book. The companion to Polk Knoll: A Collection of Short Stories. And just couldn’t help but to stop and write this.

Isn’t that the absolute truth! I’d literally just written the phrase in my journal, Destiny is not a static thing. We make our own destiny with every act, every single day. Always keep this in mind MJ.

I’ve now published two books, and expect to have a third soon. Not to mention the fact that the Southern Writers Guild is also about to publish an anthology, which I am also a contributor to. 🤯 On one hand it is mind-blowing that I have done this. Yes, it’s surreal. And yet on the other hand, it feels as though it’s almost expected.

I made the comment in the Note announcing the eBook that, “I published Polk Knoll in less than a week, start to finish.” Well that’s not exactly the whole truth. The truth is that Polk Knoll is the culmination of working towards my dream of becoming a published author every single day for the last three years. Every day. I didn’t get here all at once.

Small steps. “Well-being is realized by small steps, but is no small thing.”-Zeno

There’s a reason that is my favorite quote, because Small Steps, I can handle. Just Keep Choppin’. But there’s another motto I have once I step onto the page.

Embrace the Suck.

I’m not sure where I read or heard this sentiment the first time. The, “you can always edit a bad page, but never a blank one,” theory. But it goes really well with another one that many best selling authors have repeated over and over again.

Your first draft is supposed to be bad.

And to take it a step further, your first book will probably not be your best either. Now I’m sure there are exceptions. But I’m starting from scratch here. I’m learning as I go. And going through those short stories that comprise Polk Knoll, proves it. There were many edits needed to those stories before they could be included in the book. Some of which, I think, made a huge difference. Nothing big. It was little stuff, a word here or slight change of phrase there.

And I could also see clearly that my writing is improving — that the more I write, the better I’m getting at telling these stories.

So I’ll continue to embrace the suck. Bad first drafts are just fine. The point is to just get it down on the page. There’s plenty of time to edit. The Ugly Duckling was over a dozen drafts from start to publication. I even found over forty edits needed once the Polk Knoll proof arrived. 🙃

Your first draft is supposed to suck — that’s why it’s a first draft. So Embrace the Suck. You’ve gotta start somewhere.

---

This is my submission to the Stories from the Jukebox writing prompt, For What It’s Worth, by Buffalo Springfield. Chosen by my friend and prolific writer Phillip Slater.

Embracing the suck can be applied to many things throughout our day. There will always seem to be some sort of obstacle, something to trudge through to get to where we want to be. And most of the time those things are not within our control. This is when we have to, “put our big-boy pants on,” as my Sweetheart calls it and, “suck it up.”

So, For What It’s Worth: Embrace the Suck. Small Steps. Keep Choppin’. Don’t Let It Whip Ya!

Calling all Poets, Fiction, & Non-Fiction writers that love music — Share your prose of 1500 words or less, using the prompt, For What It’s Worth.

For What It's Worth

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing it and clicking that ❤ button, and I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Oh and if you’re an email reader, just hit reply — I want to hear from you too!

Don’t like commitments, but still want to support my writing? You can make a one-time contribution here.

LIVE with Gabriel: The Ugly Duckling