Composing as a Process
The act of writing is not just an ending result or a final product, it is a long process of exploring, planning, drafting, and revising. It is done in numerous ways and in various different points in our life. By continuously practicing the art of writing, we also end up developing our skills of communicating information, articulating feelings, and sorting out our thoughts about the events that happen within our lives in general.
Shitty First Drafts
The main point of this reading was to talk about the writing process. A typical writing process consists of multiple drafts before finally publishing a final piece. According to Anne Lamott, first drafts are meant to be shitty. It’s the draft where you are supposed to get all your feelings down onto the paper first before worrying about what to revise or rewrite. Once all your ideas are written down in front of you, then it would be easier to start organizing everything and putting everything into coherent sentences that flow together.
Freewriting
Freewriting is the process of writing whatever that is on your mind at the moment, no matter how random it may seem, for an ongoing period of time. By doing this, we take away the process of editing what we write or thinking about what to write about next. This simple activity helps us form ideas and puts all of our thoughts down onto the paper without worrying about how it will end up sounding like. Similar to speaking, it might not begin nicely, but it will soon pick up a sort of connectedness and force that will eventually start to make some sense.
Response
The first draft of a paper is just as important as any other part of the writing process, in the way that it helps you get all your ideas down onto the paper first. Similar to what Anne Lamott speaks about in “Shitty First Drafts” and what Peter Elbow speaks about in “Freewriting”, the first draft is meant for you to write down whatever that occurs to your mind first without worrying about how your paper will end up sounding like. Editing and correcting any mistakes can always come later.