English 2100 Fall 2023:  What Goes Unsaid?

christian champagne-response to shitty first draft essays by George Dila and Anne Lamott

My initial reaction to Anne Lamott’s “shitty first drafts” is that she is very mindful towards the struggle of writing. writing the first draft is like exploring your thoughts on a piece of paper. it doesn’t have to be as perfect, but she uses that draft to find good details in her writing and use it for the next. I love how she even wrote as a food critic which is really different. she takes all the judgment from others to write better and trust the process; silencing voices in her head so she ends up having a better paper on her third draft, keeping everything stable and the mind healthy, which is something writers can relate to. In George’s essay “rethinking the shitty first draft”, he appears as arrogant. he doesn’t appear to agree with Anne and her style of writing because it will end up bad without immediate fixing. he says that her method takes too much time and feels like he is forcing himself to do the same thing over and over. he claims that revising your work is better so you can have only one perfect draft. In my opinion, I believe with Anne lamott and her essay. I take away that we all aren’t gonna be perfect, especially on the first try. at first you don’t succeed and everyone has seen it before but there is always room to know more from it and try again. I don’t write essays perfectly on one try. For me, writing is a skill that takes time and work. she authenticates the imperfectness in her essays, especially coming from critics that always points out flaws, no matter if you’re the best writer on earth. There will always be room to improve.