Never Turn In Your First Draft
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that any first draft is something that you should turn in. A well-known writing professor once said, ”The only writing is re-writing,” and those are words of wisdom that should be followed. Any piece can be improved with another careful look. I’ve heard of writers who don’t do it, but I guarantee that when they turn in the piece, the editor wishes that they would have. Take a few minutes and go through your work again once it is written. You might catch something vital.
For academic writing (essays, etc), you’re totally right. We should never publish our opinions without a careful combover, probably done by somebody else. That said, I did poorly on most of my essays in college, so I would never presume to give advice about how to do well. It would come out as an underhanded compliment.
My creative writing, on the other hand, I air like drying laundry. First draft, half draft, whatever, read read, please please. Probably wouldn’t work for a creative writing class, but in the real world it’s doing just fine. Hence, the blog.