THe 3 Draft MEthod
Now that you’ve explored your writing style, it’s time to put it into practice. Publishing is the next natural step to brining your ideas to life.
But we are well aware that sharing your work can be both exciting and a little intimidating. So to make publishing feel more manageable (and less of a big jump!), we’ll guide you through the ‘3 Draft Method’- a structured approach to move your ideas from raw concepts to polished pieces, ready to share.
Even without publishing, this process is valuable in that it will help you to refine your perspectives and deepen your understanding.
The 3 Draft Method
The Three Draft Method is a step-by-step method to help you transform initial ideas into polished work ready for sharing. This method allows you to work through your ideas gradually, keeping the process from becoming overwhelming.
Down Draft – In this stage, you simply download your ideas, thoughts, and feelings onto the page. The focus here is on getting everything out without worrying about organisation or clarity. It’s raw, self-reflective, and essential for generating the material you’ll work with later. This is what you have been doing with your 500 word pieces.
Up Draft – Once you have your thoughts down, you’ll start working on the Up Draft, where you shape and organise your writing with an eye toward others possibly reading it. This stage helps you add structure and flow, moving from raw ideas to something more coherent and readable. Large Language Models can be a useful tool for creating an Up Draft. You can take any of your already written 500 word pieces and start working on an Up Draft.
Dental Draft – Finally, the Dental Draft is where you fine-tune everything: grammar, spelling, layout, images, and references. Many writers find that a change in format helps with the final editing process. For instance, you could draft the Down and Up stages on a platform like Medium, then copy your work into a Word document for the Dental Draft. This fresh perspective can help you catch any small errors before pasting it back into Medium and hitting publish.
This method is a great way to approach publishing as an iterative process, refining your work as you move through each draft.
THe Exercise: The 3 Draft Method
Practice the 3 Draft Method:
Take one or more of your 500 word pieces and start working on an Up Draft version.
Once completed, copy it into a new platform and start working on the Dental Draft.
500 word piece #6
How does your writing process currently work? Which parts come naturally and where do you struggle? Reflecting on this can help you reveal strengths and areas to refine. Do you need more time for brainstorming, or is editing your biggest hurdle?
What does a ‘finished’ piece look like to you, and when do you decide it’s ready to publish? Even if you have never published any of your work before, understanding your standards for completion can help you avoid over-editing and know when it’s time to move on to the next piece.
What are some of your fears about sharing your work? What do you have to gain by overcoming your fears? What are some steps or strategies you could put in place to move through these fears?
Up next: Publish