One thing that helps with writing is to realize that your first draft is basically just your outline in prose form. It's not /supposed/ to be good.
Basically a first draft is telling the story to yourself. Then you mold it into something other people can read. To me, it kind of feels like sculpting with clay. But you've gotta put that clay on the table first.
@Nezchan I always hear people say “the first draft of anything is shit”, but I feel like that undercuts even the good parts of a first draft. I prefer this less harsh, but equally as true, version of that axiom: “The first draft of anything will always need work.”
@Stephen_Stone Well, the lesson is not to consider anything in the first draft precious or irreplaceable. As Stephen King put it, “Kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.”
From another perspective, you need to be able to slap down a first draft without the expectation that it has to be good holding you back.
@Nezchan yes. this. i use the skeleton metaphor and subsequent drafts are putting meat on the bones.