I’ve been taking German lessons three times a week for the past month.

My tutor and I always laugh a ton because I make words up or make all jumbled up sentences.

This reminds me of something I saw very often when I was a teacher myself.

I had students who would ace any grammar test, but would freeze when asked a question in class.

They wouldn’t speak unless they knew 100% their sentence was flawless and perfect.

Then, there were those other students whose sentences sometimes looked like a patchwork quilt left in the rain for weeks.

They were the chattiest in group classes. They didn’t care that their words weren’t grammatically correct. They tried their best, and that was enough for them.

If you put these two types of students in a foreign country, the not-so-perfect ones would probably get by more easily.

Same with the book writing process.

There are writers who will wait to have the perfect sentences strung out. Then and only then will they be willing to turn their ideas into words on the page.

And then there are writers who just let their words flow out, knowing that they will have the opportunity to improve them.

Writers who only want perfect sentences to roll down their fingers will often have their creativity stomped on by this need for perfection.

They’re the ones who will often experience writer’s block because they have a big Doberman at the exit gate of their brain ready to maul anything that is not perfect.

Seriously, that’s the best way to nuke your creativity.

I’ve said it countless times and I will say it again, your job as an author is to first get the words out as they come.

As they want to. Without worrying about what they look like.

Because once they’re out, you can shape them.

Polish them.

Move them around.

Cut them.

Expand them.

You can do whatever you want to, ONCE you’ve laid that first jet.

Just like with my German essay this week. Once the words were on the page, my tutor helped me shape it in a more German-friendly way.

If I had kept my words to myself, how would he know what I wanted to say? How could he help me communicate better?

When you write a book, first you have to be willing to accept that it will not be perfect from the get-go.

That’s why it’s called a DRAFT.

I can’t tell you the number of times I have gone through my current draft, to add more stuff every time.

That doesn’t mean that what I had before was bad work.

It just means that sometimes work is created in layers.

First, you put the rough idea down, and then you work on it.

Whether to chisel it and sculpt it into a more polished version, or to add more to it and build upon it to make it a more complete, elaborated version of what it was.

Forget about the books you pick on the bookshelves.

They didn’t come out like that.

They have gone through god knows how many read-throughs and editing rounds.

You’re only seeing the finished product.

So release the need to be perfect.

Release the fear of being imperfect, because it is through your imperfection that you are going to create something that feels perfect to you.

Your words can change lives. All it takes is a willingness to start.

And if you want someone to support you through that process, I’m right here for you.

Let’s do this.