Drafts matter.

Drafts are essential to the writing process, and to understanding our writing identities. No? Leave a comment to join this dialogue, and don’t forget to check out today’s writing prompt.

As writers, it’s easy to be persuaded into believing that only our polished and published writing matters in the end, especially when we meet set and arbitrary deadlines or struggle with perfectionism.

But that’s not entirely true, and I think we all know that somewhere deep down — that all the outlines and notes and first drafts and second drafts and th…