Drafting, Reiterated . . .

I just heard an alarming rumor. It seems some people are saying that people who write well always write well the first time around. This is a lie! Most writers have to write something many times before it sings.

Maybe, to reinforce the point, one should write drafts side by side. Today I was using the Kate text editor that comes with Knoppix. Kate can do vertical splits. In other words, Kate can show the same file in both sides of a split window, and Kate can split the window vertically (Word can do it horizontally, but I'm not sure it can do it vertically).

Link to screenshot.

Do this and you'll never forget to let yourself take several whacks at a text, just like the pros.

Update: One could even use a program like winmerge to compare drafts of a document.