All a first draft has to do is exist! I’ve experienced this too and you just have to keep going. Honestly, just give yourself permission to be bad! You’re not alone in feeling this way. I used to be so paralyzed by this that I couldn’t even get any words down, so first off, you should congratulate yourself on that 2200 words because that is an accomplishment!

If you imagine the well of your creativity like a dammed up stream, and you’re only just unblocking it, you’re going to have to let the debris and trash that built up flow through before you get to the clean water farther up the stream. Just keep the words going! If you hear that voice saying “this is shit” just ask back “yeah? And so what if it is?”

Would you rather have a bad novel that you can edit and turn into something better, or a blank page and a heart full of regret? I don’t believe your writing is shit, for the record, but almost no one just produces a perfect novel with no need for edits or changes on their first go. Just keep at it. Passion is something you can cultivate, it’s not gone, you just have to create an environment where it’s allowed to flourish.

I’m a software engineer, but I’m still pretty early in my career and have done mostly QA. I’m currently being integrated into a new team where I’ll actually get to develop on a C# and Angular project! I’ve done a little dev work on a much smaller Angular project so I’m really excited.