Pen to paper time (or fingers to keyboard time).

1. Using all the writing you’ve done up to this point, including your prewriting, outlining, and most current draft of your thesis statement, build a complete draft of your essay.
   • Initially, it’s all about generating content. Remember from the reading in this section that first drafts are rarely pretty. Do your best to ignore the critical part of your brain, and turn loose your creative energies, instead.
2. As you finish the first draft, loop back through to improve, expand, and edit (moving you into the second draft).