☁️ Make the first bad draft

bring back fb pins / linkedin cringe / a case for less content

Hi friend,

I’ve been coaching a few writers recently, and I’ve found myself saying the same thing to them and to myself:

You’re probably going to hate the first draft.

This isn’t the first draft of this letter I’m writing to you. I wrote something I hated, deleted it, and started rewriting this for you. By the end of it, I might even scrap more and restart.

This can be said for really anything we do—creative work, writing, personal life stuff…

Sometimes, we need to write a first draft to prove to ourselves that we can just start. Even if it’s a messy, miserable start.

Then, once I’ve gotten it out, I have a weight off my shoulders. I can begin again.

I can write a newsletter to you. I can send that important text to a friend. I can clean off my brush and start painting on a new page.

Do the first draft, even if you hate it. I promise you’ll get to the other side.

with warmth + love,

N

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📚 read

• Remember Facebook pokes? they’re baaaaaaackkkkkk!! Now can they bring back Facebook pin boards? (anyone remember these??)

• The Mr. Beastification of entertainment: from YouTube to Prime TV, we’re gonna be seeing a lot more of these wildly extravagant videos

• Is LinkedIn cringe? a lot of people think so, but there’s a way to get past the “embarrassing” feeling + start posting

• Teenagers love Sephora now: and not everyone is thrilled about it! gotta say there’s a compelling point against kids using retinols…

• Do you really need to publish that content? I’m a little biased, but I loved this piece from

  Amanda Natividad
  on publishing content less often

• Horrifying but kind of entertaining: this piece chronicling the most unhinged listings on Facebook Marketplace.

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🌱 do

Going back to the early days of this newsletter and sharing one of my favorite mini (1 min) meditations with you. If you’ve never tried meditation, this is a very quick + easy way to start!

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Thank you all again so much for your support of SMD + an extra special thanks to those of you who joined the paid subscriber membership!

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I know I sound like a broken record BUT this weekly edition of SMD will always remain free. Per request, I’ll also add a link next week with a letter to convince your boss to cover this as a workplace expense!

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As always, if you have any thoughts, please let me know in the comments or by replying to this! Appreciate you so much, friend 🤍