Life is a sketch.

Sometimes, we humans, tend to put too much faith in planning.

It's Friday evening and you're going to hang out with some friends. One of these friends is a girl whom you wish was more than a friend. This is the night you will make this come true. You look in your closet. There's that shirt. That perfect shirt that you originally purchased with the thought that, in the back of your mind of course, this shirt will impress that girl. You're going to wear this shirt and you're going to make great jokes tonight. You're also going keep your composure and not overreact to the fun you're having. You're going to be the perfect blend of funny and cool, plus you're going to be wearing that shirt. There's no doubt that if you execute this simple plan, this girl is finally going to see you in that "more than just a friend" light.

It's Friday night and you're laying in bed, thinking about how the night could have went better. You shouldn't have made that joke about the body parts of old people. That was it. That joke was too far. It made her uncomfortable. It was a good choice to wear that shirt, but you forgot how awkward that pair of jeans fits. Shouldn't have wore those jeans.

This is life. You plan things. Things don't go as planned. It frustrates you. Yet other times, you have no plan and somehow things go really well. 

Writing is often like this. You think you have a dynamite plan and you start writing and you struggle and then three hours later you end up with garbage. Other times, you start writing on a whim and somehow you end up with words you didn't think you were capable of writing.

I prefer to think of the writing-process as "sketching." I dislike the word "drafting." It has a dreadful connotation to it. It's easier to "sketch" your words. You have a vague mental model of what your final product will look like and you write until your words start to resemble that model. 

You might even have to write, edit, and revise all at once. Remember: you're a sketch artist--translating a vision in your head into something that artfully, and not even necessarily accurately, portrays that vision.

Feel free to take the sketching analogy about writing and apply it back to life in general. I've done all I can do at this point.