Have a Road Map Posted on November 13, 2007 Boris Birmaher (bio) talks about the many drafts that are required before submitting a paper.

If it’s an article for a journal with a chapter, with a book or whatever, then I think you learn this by trial and error. I saw in my kids at school - they were taught how to write and they spent hours and hours writing, and with drafts. I never was taught like that. Then I have to go in the hard way.

But then I think the best is to have a road map. You write exactly how the order that you want to follow and then you fill the gaps and then you begin to have — don’t despair. You need sometimes to have like 10, 15 drafts and then also very important to have people around you reading the drafts.

I write my paper and then I go one draft, two drafts, three drafts until I’m happy. Then I give it to my friends and then I give it to my secretary who will go through my English, ’cause even if I am sure that what I wrote is correct, I am surprised of all the mistakes that she finds.

Then I send it to all the authors, the co-authors and I get feedback from them, then the paper finally comes to me and then I maybe have one or more two drafts, then I submit it. But it’s a process.

There are many people who are not from the United States, then it's double work, double effort, more hours. More hours, because until you begin to be fluent in English and then think in English and not in your original language.

My original language is Spanish, then until you begin to dream in English, if you continue to dream in Spanish or in your language, you're not ready. When you begin to dream in English is when you are beginning to be ready to write in English. It’s hard. It’s very hard.

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