Howdy,
An interesting article recently got passed around on the old email by members of my writing group. This particular article on the seven stages of manuscript drafts struck a chord with me. It’s written by Constance Hale. Go check it out.
First off, like Constance, I don’t suffer from writer’s block. Honestly, does it even exist or is it just a euphemism for fear? Don’t know.
The article lays out seven stages of a manuscript starting the bare-bones, quickly written rough draft all the way to the “I love this story” draft (this being the final stage). My problem, and it’s a doozy, is that I start off at the “I love this story” draft stage while I’m in reality mired in the rough, rough, rough draft phase. For me, the hardest part is reaching the oh shit moment when I really come to grips with how horrible the draft is and can finally start making real improvements.
As I've written about before, this is one of the reasons I embrace Matt Bird’s advice to set the draft aside after completing it before revising.