Don't miss our holiday offer - up to 50% OFF!
And Why Writers Need Both — But Not at the Same Time
One of the most damaging ideas writers absorb — often without realising it — is that all parts of writing should happen at once.
That we should be generating ideas, shaping sentences, judging quality, and thinking about outcomes in the same sitting.
This is how writing becomes tight.
This is how it becomes exhausting.
This is how many people stop altogether.
Writing and producing are not the same thing. And when we confuse them, both suffer.
Phase One: Creation (Idea-Making)
This is the earliest and most fragile phase.
Ideas don’t arrive fully formed. They arrive as impressions, questions, half-sentences, or emotional weather. They need space before they need structure.
Creation asks:
- What’s interesting here?
- What won’t leave me alone?
- What wants attention, even if I don’t know why?
This phase thrives on permission, not pressure. It’s nourished by curiosity, not deadlines.
Trying to “produce” too early — by shaping, refining, or judging ideas — often kills them before they’ve had a chance to grow.
Phase Two: Writing (Drafting)
Drafting is where writing actually happens.
Not the polished version. Not the version anyone else will see. The version that lets the work exist at all.
Drafting is exploratory. It’s allowed to be repetitive, uneven, and wrong. Its job isn’t to impress — it’s to discover.
In this phase, the writer needs to stay close to the work and far away from imagined readers.
This is where many writers struggle, not because they lack skill, but because they invite the producer in too early.
Phase Three: Producing (Editing and Shaping)
Producing comes later.
This is the phase of refinement, coherence, and care for the reader. It asks different questions entirely:
- What am I actually saying?
- What needs to be clarified or removed?
- What belongs here — and what doesn’t?
Producing is analytical. It’s strategic. It requires distance.
It’s also essential.
But it cannot coexist with drafting in real time. Asking the producer to sit beside the writer while drafting is like asking an editor to comment on a thought while it’s still being thought.
Why We Need Both
Writers who resist producing often end up with drawers full of unfinished drafts.
Writers who produce too early often end up with work that feels competent but lifeless.
The most sustainable writing lives in the relationship between the two — but only when each phase is allowed its own space.
Creation opens the door.
Drafting walks through it.
Producing arranges the room so others can enter.
What Happens When We Separate the Phases
When writing and producing are clearly separated:
- Writing becomes more generous
- Ideas feel safer to explore
- Editing becomes clearer and kinder
- Momentum returns
Most importantly, writing stops feeling like a test we’re constantly failing.
A Gentle Reframe
If you’re struggling with your writing, ask not What’s wrong with me? but Which phase am I actually in?
You may be creating when you think you should be producing.
You may be drafting when you think you should already be polishing.
There’s nothing wrong with being early.
A Small Invitation
Next time you sit down to write, decide — gently and clearly — which role you’re playing.
Writer or producer.
Then ask the other to wait their turn.
Writing needs freedom.
Producing needs clarity.
When each is honoured in its own time, the work — and the writer — can finally breathe.