Immediate costs and rewards loom larger than future ones.
More quotes08.40: the page is blank.
08.52: first sentence — “This may be the worst idea in the history of refrigerated transport.”
08.53: the sentence is nearly deleted.
09.10: a paragraph about customer expectations appears. It contains no claim.
09.28: three more paragraphs explain why the subject is complicated.
09.44: a comparison with frozen peas arrives and makes the writer laugh.
10.02: the comparison is extended until it stops being funny.
10.30: 1,146 words exist. The useful argument occupies one paragraph near the end.
The file closes.
Next morning, 08.35: the argument moves to the top.
08.47: two throat-clearing paragraphs disappear.
09.03: the frozen peas lose six sentences and keep two.
09.20: the apologetic opening is removed.
09.41: a missing example is added.
10.05: the example contradicts one sentence in the argument.
10.18: that sentence is rewritten rather than defended.
11.00: 612 words remain.
11.04: the copy is read aloud. Two sentences contain the same point.
11.07: the weaker one disappears.
11.09: the surviving sentence now sounds abrupt. It stays.
11.11: a factual claim in the peas comparison is checked and narrowed.
The first draft permitted fragments, repetition and the wrong idea to exist long enough for one useful connection to appear. Revision owes none of them permanent employment.
11.12: title changed.
11.16: first sentence changed again.
11.19: the document is saved at 607 words.