12 Comments

Brave of you to start anew--but it's not really anew cuz Draft 1 is the fertile soil. I've heard of a few fiction writers that put Draft 1 in a drawer and don't even reference it which feels brutal!

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Yeah I’ll be able to reference a number of the events thankfully, and reuse some of the characters. So not a total loss!

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As Dalio succinctly puts it “Pain + Reflection = Progress.”

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Aug 14Liked by Nat Eliason

Thanks for sharing this, Nat. I also don't want it to be true that good feedback hurts like hell, but it does. I'd rather hide than receive it, but this is no way forward. We can only progress by embracing failure.

I also think that it's a big gesture from you to shelf the draft. But, as you said, it probably wasn't for naught, shelfing things is part of the deal of being a writer. Best of luck with the next iteration!

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Thank you Simon!

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Aug 14Liked by Nat Eliason

It's the timely, personal example at the end here that really gives this otherwise common (but no less true) advice real weight and makes it compelling! Good stuff.

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Love the candid share Nat, and very much resonate with seeking painful feedback across all realms of life.

I was on the receiving end of some pretty painful feedback in a personal aspect of my life recently, delivered haphazardly by a family member (which adds a different type of weight to it).

I went through a similar process of first going: "Well they're just being a dick" but the more I thought about why it was painful, the more I recognised that there was some grain of truth to it.

I find painful feedback an interesting source of tension against the big message of 'staying true to yourself' because I can easily see many people dismiss painful feedback as 'ignore the haters', but to your message, we have more to gain by learning how to embrace that feedback.

Thanks for sharing and love your writing.

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Truths are very simple and visible. Only we need to be able to see them. All the blind spots are a result of the resistance to be open . Being open is learning and that we need to keep doing till we know all there is to know :)

The fun part is that it is easy to do . Getting into that double helix spiral just like our DNA is the solution.

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So interesting as this feels like a really "live" topic for me. I've only just been braving asking for feedback but it's been a bit too kind at the moment! I want to have things I can work on as I'm otherwise still in the dark.

I think there's also something here about the connection between how much the feedback hurts and how much you care about what you've produced. The pain shows you really care about it which must ultimately lead to a better result.

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Thanks for sharing. It's hard to even get painful feedback at times, so indeed, it's a gift, even if it's bitter medicine at first. Much respect to you for having the guts to start from scratch. Can't wait to see what this turns into!

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Do you have to scrap the entire sci fi manuscript? Maybe you can take the main story line and build it up while of course removing the subplots that aren’t relevant to you message-

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