So my almost 13 year old daughter sent my wife and I an email giving me permissions to a document she created on her Google Drive wanting comments and editing. As I opened the document, I noticed right away that she wanted to write a story, something more than just free writing because she tried to visually format it using spaces and returns.
As I read her manuscript, I could clearly see her vision for the story she wanted to tell. My OCD kicked in, however, and I rushed through, adjusting her margins, etc. cleaning up the formatting problems that I saw.
Luci was very grateful for the assistance, but I could tell she was upset. I was detracted from the idea she had by its presentation. As a writer, it is important to put ideas first, for that is the rare commodity of creativity.
My lesson here is this: Next time, I will sit down with my daughter and go through the document with her exploring the concept. Once that is done to both of our satisfactions, I will show her how to properly format her document.
Don't ever let the structure of a work detract you from the creative process. If the only way that you can get out the words in your head is with a crayon on your door step, you need to do that. Be sure to take lots of pictures though so you can dictate your work into a word processor after you are finished.
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