Release early, and release often

Writers (among others working in creative fields) have this idea that their work must be perfect before it's seen. This notion probably stems from the idea that writing is a kind of art. In some cases, writing is a kind of art.

But let's face it: few of those cases are mercantile.

If you're writing for a client, or writing as a contribution to a bigger communication that involves others—designers, marketers, etc. etc.—then hiding your precious prose from prying eyes until you've spent ages refining it to a state of perfection is counter-productive. Almost entirely so.

If someone else needs to approve your work, your best bet is to take the developers' advice: release early, and release often.

This doesn't mean you should give your client half-baked garbage. What it means is that they need to be on the, shall we say, creative journey with you. They need to know what you're thinking as you're thinking it, so that they can contribute to it, and help you shape it to their needs. And if you're working with other creatives, the same logic applies.

Spend days polishing a draft, and you're wasting time. Write your draft, go away, check and refine, and then just present the fucker.

Don't present it as a finished article. Call it a prototype. This gives your work boundaries (people expect prototypes to be a bit flimsy, to wobble and sway a little) and a sense of testability: the whole purpose of a prototype is to see how its key functionality stands up to experimental use.

This will incline your clients to think about the copy, take it for a spin, run it past some colleagues, and maybe even sleep on it for a few days. It encourages a broader scrutiny and more thoughtful, more thorough feedback. It also consolidates client relationships and builds rapport.

Ultimately, releasing early and often lets you write better copy, and produce better communications.

Oh, and as a bonus, it also takes the angst out of copy presentation.