Even before writing legend Stephen King sobered up, he would keep the door shut tight to his writing studio. When he felt his writing was ready, he’d open the door only to his wife, who he dubbed his supreme editor.
King has what he calls “closed-door writing” and “open-door writing.”
Closed-door writing is the crap, the stuff that he doesn’t want anyone to see. It’s the muck that all professionals and top-performers still muddle through to create something of high value (though they like to keep that hidden).
It’s what Anne Lamott would call the “shitty first draft” in her book on writing, Bird by Bird (one of my personal favorite reads).
To move beyond the first crappy draft, King finds the affirmation he needs from his wife. He describes in his book, On Writing, a scene where he gives his wife a manuscript on a road trip and she reads it in the passenger seat while he drives. He describes biting his nails in nervousness as he waits for her to laugh or gasp when he knows she’s at certain parts.
