It's about writing

Last night a young man--would-be lawyer--came over for help with his two-page essay, required as part of the application process.

What he had written showed he was trying to do too much in those two pages. But there was a lot to work with. He said he had rewritten two or three times. I say, good for him, but it was very much like a dumping out draft. Just getting ideas down on paper.

I told him he had work to do. We talked about many things. I asked many questions.

Thank goodness he is willing to keep working on it. Not all people are willing to do that with their writing. But he's 26 and very serious about getting into law school. Shows some maturity.

I told him he had to write this one--the not so good one--before he could write a better one. Duh.

But some folks don't accept that. They think either a) I'm done or b) this stinks. The ones who think a are just that. Done. For better or worse, usually worse. The ones who think b get discouraged and think they should throw it away.

This guy is neither a nor b. He's c) willing to work on it. He'll be back in a few days with a new draft. I'm encouraged.