Anne Lamott writes an article called “Shitty First Drafts” in which she discusses that every good writer or any writer should submit a first draft of whatever they write because it helps to improve their second and third drafts, which in turns helps them become writers. She argues that the first draft is known as the child’s draft because at the time you write it, you are still playing around with different ideas and it would later take shape into more concrete ideas.   Anne Lamott compares her writing experiences to her personal experiences as a food critic.

She argued that it would take quite a bit of effort in order to start to write her first draft as a food critic, which involved a lot of note taking and hours of thinking and writing a first draft, and after writing the first draft she would write a second draft which would by perfected by a third draft.

I agree with many of the points that Lamott makes throughout her article. First, I agree with her opinion that if one wishes to become a better writer they must ALWAYS submit a first draft of something which would help them perfect their final drafts. In my experience as a writer, I found that papers in which I submit a formal first draft I usually do much better on, because I am able to learn from the mistakes on my first draft and I can put more effort and analysis on certain topics. This article made my opinion even more concrete about submitting first drafts. Prior to reading this article I was indifferent towards writing first drafts but Lamott provided excellent arguments about the benefits of submitting a first draft which I will into consideration in the future.

Who would have thought writers dread writing as well? Many times, writing is a daunting task, requiring a writer to organize his thoughts and then place them into neat paragraphs and even more detailed sentences. I can see where some might become suicidal in the process. Anne Lamott, a professional writer, in “Shitty First Drafts,” magnifies this message, that writing is a process, even for the extremely talented. Anne describes the true feeling many can resonate with, that feeling of loneliness, of hopelessness, and of despair, when confronting Microsoft Word and that dreaded ‘I’ blinking pointer.

Yet, the only way to jump over that wall is to just write, write and write. It does not matter what comes out on the paper, that can be dealt with later, because “there may be something great” in there. As backwards as it may seem, great writers, the author explains, for the majority start out there writing with somewhat complete garbage, and dig through it later to find that diamond ring they accidentally disposed of. That is the beauty of writing, converting a mess of words and thoughts, and rearranging them later on to create a composition bordering the greatness of the Constitution. Writing a piece of art, Ms. Lamott says, is only revealed after the fact for most great writers. Even better, though, is that professional writers for the most part reluctantly write, feeling almost compelled to. On the flip side, the author quotes a colleague as saying that they do have a choice, “you can either type or kill yourself.”

Writing is intimidating, and it begins with “boring beginnings” and “lots of quotes.” It can feel like your fingers are moving automatically, and it can feel suicidal, but these feelings are the storm, and if a writer can weather the storm they will experience the clear skies. The experience is not the best, it is actually terrifying, but the end result is extremely worth it.

I had a similar experience as described in ‘Shitty first drafts’ while writing this post. I jot all my initial reactions down on paper while reading, anything that sticks out to me, anything with substance, that I could squeeze things out of. The first draft is meant to release all possible ideas. A sort of ‘what is the first thing that pops into your head when you hear….’ situation. It is your knee jerk reaction to what you are writing or thinking about, your first impression. As we know by experience first impressions are not always correct; but unfortunately in life we often do not put much thought into the people we met thereafter. We do not go about analyzing any given acquaintance we make, trying to uncover their true selves, like we do with a piece of literature, or a review.
When I start out attempting to write a piece I am quite nervous about not being able to come up with anything, with underwriting, and having to come up with rubbish to extend it. However, in reality I find that I often overwrite, and quite a few things don’t make the cut in the final edition. I would liken writing a first draft and turning it into a final draft to taking an abstract painting and turning it into a portrait. There is a mix of emotion, disorganized, with no real form, but a certain sense of beauty and art and appreciation found within a shitty first draft. What I often find most difficult in revising is the condensation. How do I shorten this piece, and cut some lines, yet still keep the main idea, still convey the message, still make my voice cut through? A rough draft is you, uncensored. The author’s recurring fear of someone finding her first draft and reading it is due to the scary thought of letting someone see you uncensored. It is human nature, it is vulnerability.

Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts” is a very interesting and helpful piece.  I found in it many ideas I myself have though at different points, such as the importance of just getting something, anything, down on paper.  I think a big reason many students feel pressured writing is that they rarely write multiple drafts.  So when they’re writing the opening paragraph, it’s not a “shitty first draft” that no one is going to see.  It’s the finished product that’s going to be graded and torn apart.  The anticipation of this sort of criticism leads many students to not be able to get anything down on paper at all.  Nothing sounds right and they don’t yet know what they’re trying to say.
The best way to write a “shitty first draft” is to put down on paper whatever comes to mind, in a sort of stream-of-consciousness writing.  Even if the sentences don’t logically follow one another and the phrasing is awkward and imprecise, just put it down and forget about it.  The important thing is not what your writing, but that you’re writing.  As long as you have something down on paper, you can begin to organize your thoughts and see more clearly the specific topic you want to write about and the points you’d like to make.

Who would have thought that the start of a paper, book, or any writing would be so difficult for not only students but also experienced writers. Anne Lamott expresses the process she goes through during her “Shitty First Drafts” and how she goes about when writing them. Not only she gets ideas from her every day life, but also from people who surround her. Lamott mentions that every good read, no matter who the writer is, came after a couple of written draft pages. The first draft is what she likes to call a child’s draft or what her friend calls “the down draft” where she just writes anything on her mind, in order to figure out what she wants her topic to be about. The second draft is “the up-draft” to get her ideas more clear and the third draft is what her friend calls “the dental draft” where you analyze every sentence to make a terrific well written piece.

Anne Lamott’s  writing give me a sense of comfort and encouragement. I’ve always had difficulties writing an essay or project for school forcing me to always brain storm first, then write a couple of bullet point ideas and then proceeding into writing my first draft page. This strategy might take longer than it would take a native speaker, but knowing that even well-known writers have to go through various draft pages to make a final piece, give me some peace of mind.

As i was reading Anne Lamott’s article, “Shitty First Drafts,” i truly felt a sigh of relief. I was one who felt that most successful and talented writers have the ability to bang out essays and literature as if they were angry  rebuttals to facebook trolls. I always had this sense that my writing abilities were a bit subpar because it would always take me “hours” to even come up with something even close to what my old highschool teacher (who got fired) would say “medicore.” Only god knows whether it’s my occasional lack of motivation, inability to focus on a given task for a long time, or OCD approach to writing? In my opinion it’s the “OCD”, but what do i know. By an OCD approach to writing, i meant that i always proof-read my work as i go; doing the editing and writing simultaneously. Although i admit it’s a bad habit, i just can’t physically keep writing when i mentally know what i’ve already written needs editing.

Another dark and horrifying writing secret of mine is that i don’t really do so called “drafts.” I can already hear some of you screaming, “WHAT?? THAT’S PREPOSTEROUS!?!?!?!” Hopefully most of you fellow classmates could still look at me the same way after reading this, but yes I honestly don’t do first drafts. My writing method consists more of editing during the frequent pauses i take when i run out of ideas and then a final edit where i make all the finishing touches to the paper before hitting the print button. I know my technique is contrary to Lamott’s way, and i truly believe her’s is definitely more helpful. I will consider reforming my method of writing for this upcoming paper about rhetorical analysis.

As Lamott stated, “Very few writers really know what they are doing until they have done it.” One of the most relatable quotes to my life. It’s just not my style to plan things ahead of time, it would only inhibit my thoughts; the writing takes shape as i go. I’ll still take Lamott’s advice to heart and attempt to utilize first and second drafts when i write formal papers.

While reading Anne Lamott’s Shitty First Drafts, I realized that I have never looked at the writing process the way she does. I usually try my best to make my first draft a good base to begin my essay with. In the past, my teachers have graded my rough draft as well as my final draft; some teachers even made the first draft worth as much as the final draft. It is incredibly overwhelming to feel as if you have one shot at writing something, so you need to make it perfect. I wish that my teachers have looked at writing the way Lamott does, “The first draft is the child’s draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and you can shape it later”.  I feel that if I viewed my writing that way, it would be much easier to get all of my ideas down and realize what I want to include in my essay and what should be locked up in a box and hidden from daylight.

Lamott’s excerpt from the book not only reads well, but is informative as well as entertaining. The fact that she has been writing for so long and still writes “shitty first drafts” is a little comforting. Lately, I have been looking at writers’ styles and attempting to figure out what it is that makes their work so readable. All I have figured out so far is that good writers incorporate their own personality into their writing. From Lamott’s piece you can tell that she has a good sense of humor as well as years of experience. She seems incredibly knowledgeable about writing but at the same time she is able to give us a glimmer of hope and claim that her work process begins the same way as anyone else’s.

This piece pretty much sums up my whole writing experience.  One of the hardest things I find myself being able to do is actually knowing where to start.  I would imagine a large part of this is attributed to the fact that I want to be be able to present something perfect right away, but maybe it’s just something every writer struggles with.  The moment I accepted that it was fine for me to create a first draft that was shit was that moment I really began to see my writing evolve.  One of the many things I’ve noticed throughout my years of writing, it is that when I just let myself go while writing, I come up with things I probably wouldn’t have otherwise.  After multiple rounds of revisions, this would lead to an end product that while having elements of what made that first draft great, all the things that makes the final draft what it was meant to be.  To be honest, even though I know that this is the right way to go about it, I only really find myself doing this if what I’m writing about is something I am passionate about.  I can easily say that nearly every school paper I’ve written was able to receive a good grade with my approach of trying to perfect a first draft, but those perfect grades never really showed up except for the pieces where I just let myself go.  This whole method goes against my philosophy of getting work over with as quickly as possible, but the more I think about it, starting with something that has a lot to improve upon saves more time.  Rather than spending a ridiculous amount of time attempting to perfect something that shouldn’t be, I can just use that same amount of time on something that can be.

Anne Lamott’s article, “Shitty First Draft” gave the readers realistic advice. Probably all if not most of us have had moments where we are suppose to write either an essay or research paper and we have writer’s block. Not everyone starts to with a good draft and that’s ok. Lamott tells us that not everyone is satisfied with their first draft even if they work hard on it. There is a process for everyone to get their minds working. Even the professional writers take their time and do their own process to start their writing. As she mentions at the end of her article, “almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something – anything — down on paper,” (para. 10) I think these three sentences summarize her article and it’s a straight-forward idea she gives her readers and I think they should take it.

When it comes to giving in a first draft, I’m someone who works on the first draft two times before I hand it in, almost the same way as Lamott. For me there is a little process I do to begin my writing. For example, if I have to write on a topic or paper, I read what the assignment is asking for carefully to know exactly what I should be writing about.  I don’t start to write automatically, I take a few minutes to just think about my response. After I know what I want to write about I always start with what I learned in middle school, to have an introduction, body and a conclusion. After that I want there to be topic and not just have random thoughts jumping everywhere. I feel that this process works better for me because I’m able to then move those ideas that I wrote to different sections. Of course, that isn’t always the case sometimes I don’t know what to write down and I just write sentences that relates to my work. They could be small and little detailed sentences.  After I have finished the first draft, I go back and reread my work and focus on what else I can add in or take out. I always find this process helpful because as I’m reading my work, more ideas start to pop up. Although, Lamott states that in the beginning of writing, you will have a shitty draft I do follow her advice that we should just write anything down but at the same time in my own writing process I like to do more than just write down anything, I like to edit my work while I’m still on the first draft to be ready to move on to the next draft.  It takes a few drafts to be satisfied with the final piece. As I mentioned before, there is a process everyone has to writing or handing in their first draft.

I would first like to start off by saying I really admire how Anne Lamott really connected with the audience, myself and others, as readers and also writers. Lamott has proven to me that not all great books/novels/stories are made perfectly from the first try. It feels almost as if a weight was lifted knowing that I am not the only one that goes through the crazy writer’s block phase while writing a paper. It’s nice to know that it is okay to not know what exactly it is that you’re writing about until maybe the end of the first draft. I personally relate to what this article is saying because I always have one of those very shitty first drafts that Lamott speaks about. I would never actually know or be able to even stick to one topic until I’ve written and crossed out about 2-3 pages of work before starting my actual writing. From what Lamott has said, writing the first draft is more about the process as opposed to the product. The first draft really determines what way your piece will go.  I see writing is a process but also a cycle. When you become a writer, the process used to write a piece becomes a cycle.

“Very few writers really know what they’re doing until they’ve done it.” I feel that Lamott wrote this to tell readers that it is okay to not always know from the start what they are going to write about. Sometimes it takes writing multiple pages of ideas and brainstorms before we as writers can decide on one strong topic that we feel will reach out to our readers. I see paragraph 10 as words of encouragement. Lamott breaks it down by saying draft one is just to jot everything down, draft two is to revise, and draft three is the final check up.

In just five words, Anne Lamott sums up the entire purpose of writing a rough draft: “you need to start somewhere.”

I think one of the biggest things that people struggle with when writing- at least what I have the most trouble with- is feeling that they will not be able to put well into words exactly what they have to say. There’s a frustration that comes about while writing when you have your ideas and the energy and emotion ready to put into your work but you just can’t seem to find the best way to state it. Well, they do say the hardest thing to do is to get over the initial hump of writing and just start.

I recently read this quote that I’ve declared as my new mantra. It said, “done is better than perfect.” Being a perfectionist myself, I know how hard activities and projects are for those who always work towards such a high (and often unrealistic) level of achievement. Simple things become much larger and more difficult than they should be. Assignments take a lot longer to complete compared to the average individual. It’s the job of a perfectionist, to overthink. It seems as though this is a similar experience one goes through when they start writing. A lot of people, when they write, want immediate results. After thinking of a topic, those individuals tend to get so caught up in the finished product and the structure in which their assignment should be exhibited that it’s almost too complicated to find a place to begin. This is where “shitty first drafts” come in.

Lamott, not only a well-acquainted writer but also a regular human being, reminds her readers in this excerpt from “Bird by Bird” that no one is perfect. Not even the best of authors or professionals can produce good work without hard work. They, too, go through the same struggles as the rest of the population does, trying to create a hard copy of all that’s flowing in their minds; so they start with “shitty first drafts.” It’s freeing, in a sense, to get all of your thoughts written down on paper and out of your head. Think of it as a step in the process. As Lamott points out, you may even find a great basis for your paper in one sentence out of the whole nonsense that you’ve whipped up as your draft. Who knows. Just don’t let your angst to finish stop you from writing at all.

Emily Weiss

03.01.2016

When I was doing college essays, I received numerous e-mails from various schools concerning writer’s block, and they offered very similar tips. “The first essay you write doesn’t have to be the final version you submit, so don’t worry about making it perfect at first.  Often, you’ll find that the process of writing is a great way of developing and clarifying your thoughts.” Lamott agrees with this tip because she stated that the leads for her first drafts are always too wordy. All of her thoughts for potential leads have flowed out, so it would indeed be lengthy. Freewriting  First drafts are a great way to brainstorm and develop ideas. I want to add that firs drafts do not always have to be in word form. If  it helps you express your thoughts more clearly, charts can be an effective way to jot down ideas. Personally, I rarely ever wrote first drafts, and I realized that I would quickly run out of ideas. If I had written a first draft, free writing would have allowed more general ideas and general thoughts. At times likes these, writers can become vulnerable to writing phrases that are no relevant to what they are writing about. It is of utmost importance to brainstorm and synthesize ideas before finalizing.

In a sense, a first draft actually relieves some of the stress from writing an extremely good paper. Instead of pouring all your efforts to creating a perfect final draft, having a first draft makes it easier. There is no need to write perfect concise sentences, or find the perfect wording to convey your message. You don’t need to muster every ounce of concentration all at once. Instead of writing a super-thoughtful essay from the get go, writing drafts breaks it down into simpler steps.

Article had interesting idea and analyses. I like the idea that article is connecting the writer and the reader. I feel much better now, knowing that I am not the only one who is pushing himself to sit down and start writing. My first draft is almost always shitty. Yes, I do have an idea in my head, but NO, I don’t have a tool to deliver that idea to the reader from the beginning or to say more correctly from the first draft. All my life I wasn’t good in writing and my skills are far from perfection. But I can see improvement in my writing skills from beginning of the class till today. I marked that there are no limits in drafts and there is no ceiling in attends in writing comparing to other sciences. I can see a slight connection between sport and writing. In sport you can show a result from the first attend and then work hard invest time and power into and next time show much better (there is always a possibility to show worst) results in second attend or in the third. The difference will be only at the competitions where everybody have three attends. Author gives us a good advice that the drafts are only for you and the final draft is for everybody. No one will never know that you wrote down endless amount of drafts. Everybody will discuss and criticize your final draft you decided to show to public. In chapter number two, Anne telling us about “just a few” writers can start their first and last draft without re-writing it and I would love to read them one day to feel the power and limits of human abilities. It is very hard to write the only one draft and be perfect in it. Over all very interesting and educational article. Article inspired me that I am not the only one who’s afraid to write.

Picking up the writing, I expected a list of tips–tips to avoid shitty first drafts basically. But Anne Lamott embraces the fact that shitty first drafts exist and that there’s no escaping this reality. Lamott begins by destroying the fantasy that praised writers have their thoughts all pathed out in their mind, and that they’re simply putting those thoughts onto paper. No, even the best of writers have faced the dilemma of being worthless in the fact of a first draft.

As Lamott pointed out, a first draft serves to bring about better drafts–hopefully–unless you’re that one prodigy that every writer hates. A first draft serves as a basis for the writer to get their thoughts out, the drafts the proceeds are basically after the diamond gets polished by a jeweler. Lamott indicates that even at the final stage, not everybody’s going to like the piece, as shown by the un-subscription by readers after her review gets published.

“Shitty First Drafts” serves as an indicator that you are not the only one experiencing the feeling of writing the horrible first draft that you wrote. Most writers experience the same thing. It’s almost therapy in the form of writing. telling you that it’s okay to write such trash. After a few recycles, the trash will become something useful–an expensive and praised piece of paper. Basically, “you need to start somewhere” (2) in order to get anywhere.

As I read “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott, I felt at ease finding out that first drafts aren’t supposed to be perfect and ready for publishing right away. Lamott makes some good points and helps explain how the first draft isn’t the best in most cases and that writing all your thoughts down at first can really help the writing process. She makes the process of writing a first draft seem less daunting and much simpler. It makes me feel like a better writer and gives off the idea that anyone can be a writer. The way she wrote this piece makes it relatable to both those who are writers and those who aren’t.

Whenever I would write drafts for my English 2100 class I was always worried about them not being perfect or good enough. After a while, I realized as the semester went on that the first draft is called the first draft for a reason. It’s the first time you write down your thoughts and ideas onto paper, it isn’t meant to be perfect. Writing is something that has to be worked on and writing multiple drafts is just part of the process. While reading this piece I found myself agreeing with it and realizing once again that a first draft is just the first step in the process, its the beginning not the end. It reminded me that at the beginning theres a lot of work to put into writing to have a good final piece, but that doesn’t mean you should be stressed out and scared of the writing process in general. Just write down what you can and figure the rest out later.

I was reassured after reading this piece that I’m not the only one who writes a crappy first draft and that its not expected to be a work of art. Even while writing this, I initially just wrote everything and anything that came to mind instead of sitting around and waiting to get hit with some sort of brilliant and deep insight that would never come. After reading this piece I learned that you just have to start writing and let the words come out regardless of if they make the most sense at the time. It’s a work in progress not a final paper.

Before I respond analytically to Anne Lamott’s Shitty First Drafts, I would like to say that it was a very enjoyable read, as it was succinct, down-to-earth, and funny.  Lamar poses that there is a method to writing novels, and that the preliminary step of the process is to write a shitty first draft. That first draft is not meant to be written eloquently; the draft is meant to catalyze and ignite the thought process of developing the story. It gets the ball rolling. Lamar relates to the reader by saying that amazing writers don’t simply write their novels right away; they procrastinate, have some self-doubt and eventually sit down to write. I think this is somewhat comforting as we are beginning to work on our Rhetorical Analysis paper.

I believe that a rough draft is very important; though, I must admit, that whenever I write my first drafts, I put a great deal of effort into them in terms of thesis selection, organization, details and word choice. I find it easier to sort through the content for my paper once I plan everything out and write it all out. It then becomes easier to make changes, as there is more substance for others and myself to critique on. Quite frankly, before reading the article, I thought that the argument would argue the opposite. I felt as though the author would stress the importance of writing good first drafts, as then it will be easier to write full stories.  I was pleasantly surprised because, now, I think this approach eases writers and students into the process of composing a long piece of writing. It is especially important if people go through “writer’s block,” since then, writing random words and ideas on paper/computer might lead to a brilliant topic or theme.

Shitty First Drafts by Anne Lamott reassured me that it was not just me. I have done similar to what Anne has done a tremendous amount of times in a bunch of my classes. I could resonate with this article because even trying to write right now, I could not originally think to write anything down, but I just started typing and let my ideas flow. By doing this, it allows my imagination to shine through and allows my creative side be almost like a free spirit, going in whichever direction it wants to take me.

In my sophomore year of high school, I had an English teacher that in every class she began by putting a quote on the board. Each kid in the class would have to jot down their first thoughts on what the quote meant or what they thought of it. Even if the quote was difficult to understand or in my mind was so confusing that it was more like a bunch of words put together without a meaning to it, we were instructed to just write anything about it, and no one was allowed to have a blank piece of paper. I think this little daily activity actually taught me a few things about writing. When a few kids in the class would read theirs out loud, often their interpretations of the same quote would be very different, which was pretty cool to see. It showed me how creative people were with their ideas. This activity also taught me that sometimes in your writing you might not have an idea off the bat that you want to stick with, but when you just put anything down it allows your brain and mind to start thinking and will lead you in new directions, once you put something down. It might take a few tries to get it right, but you have to start from somewhere, otherwise you will never have anything other than a real shitty first draft.

I enjoyed reading this piece; the title “Shitty First Draft” is very catchy. I like the fact that it relates to the readers and writers. It makes me feel better about my writing. Everyone can be a good writer. Perfection can never be reached in writing. You can always improve from the first draft to draft #infinity. I definitely understand Lamott when she stated, “In fact, the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts.” I cannot disagree with that. I have been through that stage almost every time when I write a major paper. You might think that authors were born to be great writers, but no. They might have had re-writes for just the very first paragraph of the introduction for more than thirty times. When I write my first drafts, I just state my important ideas and details. This first stage is like brainstorming to me. However, I do a poor job in making transitions and being grammar free. Sometimes, I am embarrassed to show people my very first draft because it is not spotless. Yet, after reading this piece, a shitty draft is not a big deal, just pick up that pen and do some editing.

Lamott mentioned, “Very few writers really know what they are doing until they’ve done it.” This is exactly me, and it does not only apply to writing, but also in drawing. I’m a terrible artist; most of the time, I can only do stick figures. However, when I just pick up that pencil and don’t think about what I want to draw, magic happens. The same goes for writing. You cannot determine what your final product will look like until the very end. I like the way how the first draft is described as the “down draft” and the second draft is the “up draft”.

When I read this short piece, Shitty First Drafts, by Anna Lamott, I felt myself nodding along with a lot of what the author had to say. First drafts are a CRUCIAL step in the writing in process. In fact, I sometimes even have a “pre-first draft” that looks a lot like a brainstorming page with notes/ideas and arrows all over trying to find causalities, connections or interesting revelations. I find that this stage of writing is one of the more difficult but also one of the most important stages, because the idea (or the “whats the point?” part) is the heart of a paper. Wording can be changed around and revised later, but the main idea is usually what stays the same. I usually like to spend most of my time in this brainstorming stage so I could fully “dig” into a deep analysis.

In my English 2100 class last semester, my professor said and did two interesting things that have resonated with me. The first thing was something she said. She said “writing IS revising”, which I thought was very true. Writing is not something that is completed in one step. It takes many revisions, edits, and modifications. The second thing was something she did. Before certain papers were due, she liked for us to do something she called “freewriting” which was essentially an in-class writing activity to help us get our thoughts and ideas jogging. She would put up a few questions on the board and give us a certain amount of time to write. If she saw a student stop writing, she would just urge them to keep writing even if it didn’t make any sense. The whole point of this, of course, was just to get any thoughts onto the paper so that maybe we would discover an interesting idea that we could explore further. In Lamott’s piece, she says that she would write a “shitty first draft”, and then “the next day, I’d sit down, go through it all with a colored pen… find a new lead… then write a second draft”. This reminded exactly of what my last English professor tried to get us to do.

Writing is no doubt a laborious process that takes a lot of work and effort, but can be a truly creative experience as well!