Graham Linehan on writing: You have to be able to be a bad writer before you can go on to make something really good

Really enjoyed listening to Radio 4's Chain Reaction with Graham Linehan (The IT Crowd, Father Ted) interviewing Adam Buxton (if you google it you will find it on BBC Iplayer, soundcloud and youtube).
One of my favourite quotes on the writing process is:
"Writing the first draft is basically where you have to for an annoying week or two make contact with the incredibly mediocre person you actually are, you basically write something and it’s not as good as the worst thing on television, and then you re-write it and it gets a little bit better, and you re-write it and it gets a bit better, and stuff like that. So you have to be able to be a bad writer before you can go on to make something really good."

I wish I had learned this when I was younger. I only realised this a few years ago, that you have to get any old crap out first and then make it good, then make it better.

Edit: he also made an interesting case for holding on to work, resisting the temptation to publish stuff online. If you can leave sometime alone, read it again a year later. After that time your ego won't be involved, and if you think it is good, it probably is