OUTLIERS ONE MORE THING: The Power of Delusion by Jenny Milchman
- D. P. Lyle
- Oct 18
- 1 min read
OUTLIERS ONE MORE THING: The Power of Delusion by Jenny Milchman
When I am writing a new novel, I always suffer from a perseverative delusion. Except
that suffer is really the wrong word because this is a delusion of the most blissful order.
It’s that I am writing the world’s first perfect first draft. Now, we all know this is
impossible, right? Even I know it’s impossible–and I’m the one suffering from it! Still, the
delusion persists. Over the course of six (soon to be seven) published novels, and who
knows how many unpublished ones, every page I write feels like it’s emerging just as it’s
supposed to, as it must, so that altering one single word would mar this jewel I’m
creating. I fly out to my writer’s shed, thrilled to see what happens next in my thrilling
new novel.
And then, one day, it’s done and I hand it out to my band of trusty readers, and my
editor, and of course they come back with all sorts of points and compunctions and
things that need changing. But it’s okay because by then I have that most wondrous of
things–even if it does need some, or a ton, of editing–which is a full, complete
manuscript. So what do I recommend, no, wish for you? You know that saying, Sing like
no one can hear, dance like no one can see? Write like no one can read your words.
Write with uninhabited abandon, losing yourself in the thrill of your creation. Don’t think
about what isn’t working–maybe absolutely everything is. And if it’s not? You can always
edit later.
Jenny Milchman
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