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24/9/2020

​THE UGLY FIRST DRAFT

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​THE UGLY FIRST DRAFT 
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Something I’ve noticed during my writing sessions with students is the expectation of producing good writing in the first draft. If only things were that simple.  Even literary geniuses admit penning perfect prose the first time around is not going to happen. 
 
Best-selling author Anne Handly talks about the TUFD, or The Ugly First Draft. A wonderful, accurate description of roughly sketching out on paper what you want to say: It’s messy, it’s not beautiful, and its definitely not something you want someone else to see.  This first draft is when you transform your ideas into words, sentences, and paragraphs. There will be spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and probably way too many words. But that’s ok.  It’s all part of the writing process. Even professional writers go through this stage. 
 
Research suggests that different parts of the brain are active during the distinct parts of the writing process. First draft writing is more of a creative process while editing and proofreading tasks, which typically come later, use a different part of the brain. And as anyone who has attended my writing workshops will know, my mantra is  "writing is rewriting".  This maim is not intended to make the writing process appear more onerous. Quite the opposite. I think there is freedom in understanding that writing is a process and that no matter how ugly your text is, you can always improve it. 
 
So be proud of your Ugly First Draft.  It‘s better than no draft at all. ​
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By Lesley-Anne Weiling

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    So you've found our blog. As you can see, it's still in its infancy, but we'll continue to add those topics that often come up when we are coaching or editing.
     ​We welcome your suggestions and feedback. ​




    ​​AUTHORs

    The expat world is a small one, and as native English speakers both living in a small town, we quickly found each other.  It turned out we both  taught academic writing. That was back in 2011.  We started Write English in 2014 to support graduate students and researchers with their academic writing skills. ​ Since then, we have gone on to work with leading universities and research institutes throughout Germany and the rest of Europe. Jill Henne has been working with us as a text editor since 2017, and Bridie McHale has recently joined our training team.  It's a cliché to say we are passionate about what we do - but we are.  From archeology to astro-physics, we get to read fascinating research and work with people at the forefront of their fields. Our workshops are diverse and international with opportunities for researchers to exchange ideas on writing, the publication process, and other aspects of their work.  ​
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    ​Anne Wegner 
    ​My working journey has taken me from the UK to Germany, to Brussels, the Netherlands, France and back to Germany. It has taken me from a long pit-stop in the business consultancy and NGO world to teaching graduates about academic writing and to science editing and proofreading.
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    Jill Henne
    ​Jill comes from Yorkshire, in England, where she studied German and translation before completing a postgraduate diplo​ma in journalism. After several years as news editor on local papers in the UK, Jill moved to Germany in 2001.
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    Lesley-Anne Weiling 
    Lesley-Anne comes from Ireland and graduated in Modern History from Queens University Belfast. After building a successful sales and marketing career in London, she moved to Germany in 2001 and retrained as a teacher of English as a Second  Language. 

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  • Home
  • Workshops
    • Writing Research Articles
    • Developing your Narrative
    • Writing Abstracts for journal articles and conference papers
    • Academic Writing for Master's Students
    • Writing Job Applications
    • Conference Presentations
    • CONVERSATIONAL ENGLISH
    • Lecturing to an International Audience
  • Coaching
  • Academic Writing Retreats
  • Text Correction
  • Contact
  • Resources
  • Our Blog
  • CURRENT COURSE SCHEDULE