Anne Lamott: What Makes A Professional Writer?

“Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott, is a hilarious must read for junior high school students and any other aspiring writers. Her essay inspires comfort and confidence in writing a first draft. It concretes that all writers experience the “shitty” first draft. Anne Lamott wrote this instructional information in 1995, but it is timeless information. She blows the idea of writing an immaculate first draft out of the water. Anne supports the idea that bad first drafts will almost always lead to better second, third and final drafts. She symbolizes the first draft to be like a child. Where you put all your thoughts and emotions out there in words on paper, you go all over the place, you say all kinds of ridiculous things, and all with the

By examining the ideas in the essays Freewriting by Peter Elbow and The Makers Eye: Revising your own manuscripts by Donald Murray. One can gain a better understanding of the process of turning a piece of writing from an inspiration into a craft. By examining the elements lined out in each essay can be beneficial in creating a piece of writing that is beyond a college or student level. Elbows essay lines out the importance of a strong prewriting regimen. That editing too early can ruin writing. He believes that by using the method of free writing, it can inspire ideas that may be limited when worrying about grammar. While Murray emphasizes the necessity to create many drafts to form writing into its full potential. Saying each draft is an opportunity to discover what the author has to say and they the best way to say it. By transforming writing into its maximum potential it goes from being an idea an inspiration a masterpiece.

Lamott states the main point of “Shitty First Drafts” quite plainly: “For me, and for most of the other writers I know, writing is not rapturous. In fact, the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts” (234). There, stated plainly and with the controversial adjective for emphasis, is Lamott’s message. To paraphrase: first write bad, then write good. Let’s take a moment to consider the target audience of the essay. Presumably, Lamott is writing to beginning writers, many of who are struggling and may not be versed in the wordy lexicon of formal writing. Therefore (and paradoxically), had Lamott written in a higher-brow, clinical voice, her advice on writing could have been misunderstood or unheard by

In the article, Richard Marius said that he actually wrote four drafts of his book. I thought about what he said about finding it helpful to completely retype the final draft instead of just editing it on the computer screen and I think that it is a very good idea. By, “letting all the words run through my mind and fingers one more time”, I can, initially proofread at the same time as I am generating my final draft. (Marius paragraph 12) If a sentence or a word does not seem quite right to me, that would probably be the best time to catch it and

In her article “Shitty First drafts”, Anne Lamott presents her opinion that every writer and author, no matter how good they are, are bound to produce shitty first drafts that eventually improve in later drafts. Lamott stated that shitty first drafts turn out to be “terrific third drafts” with continuous revisions and improvements. Her main argument in the article was in favor of writing shitty first drafts based on her personal experiences and observations.

After examining “Shitty First Drafts”, by Anne Lamott, and “Write before Writing”, by Donald M. Murray, each writing process has some good prospects. Anne Lamott is a little crazy, but passionate writer that can really surprize you. In Anne Lamott 's article “Shitty First Drafts”, she believes that any writer should write a shitty first draft, and that’s how anyone ends up with a better second draft and a “terrific third draft” .Lamott declares in order to be good, the writer needs to first allow for the words and ideas to come flowing out without restriction. Donald M. Murray, an English Professor, that has a different writing process, wrote an article “ Write before Writing” . He explains, Students who are not

Although this is an effective way to explain the process, “Shitty First Drafts” uses a different styles of transition. When the first few words of each paragraph are singled out and analyzed, the reader can compare those words to the essay “How Not to Say the Wrong Thing” and see a distinct differences. For example, “draw a circle”, “here are the rules”, and “when you are…” are phrases that concede in the idea of the diagram drawn in the essay (Lamott, 337-40).

Lamott's personal narrative, "Shitty First Drafts" from Bird by Bird (1994), is a witty, unique expression of the day to day struggles of creating an interesting, accurate piece of writing. Lamott describes the first draft of a piece of writing as sloppy, low quality work that she would be embarrassed to associate her name with. Lamott walks us through her resume describing how she transforms from the "shitty first draft" to the elegant, polished second and third draft throughout her various types of writing. Anne Lamott even goes as far to explain that neither herself, nor her colleagues “routinely sit down wildly enthusiastic and confident” as many might imagine successful writers do (Lamott). Lamott explains that she allows herself

From the start of reading “Shitty first drafts” I have concluded that even the best writers, write horrible drafts first. In the passage it even says when you start off with a shitty first draft, this is how they end up with good second grafts, and terrific third drafts. This shows that a lot of effort goes into writing an essay. You have to start from somewhere, put what comes to your mind immediately on paper. It suprises me that even professional writers struggle with writing rough drafts. The author talks about when you write a rough draft, you have to take bits and pieces of the essay out.

Lamott 's effective persuasion was greatly due to her reflection on the writing process that writers go through and at the same time informing her audience the importance of first drafts. Most people assume that accomplished writers can easily write something they could be proud of, but that is not the case. According to Lamott, all good writers write a not-so-good first drafts and “this is how they end up with good second drafts and terrific third drafts” (Lamott, 191). For the most part of a writing process, mistakes will be made and it will most likely not contain everything the author wants to say. Lamott addressed new writers that the first draft is where writers assemble their ideas making it the most important step to a writing. Lamott pointed out many times that first drafts will not be

In Anne Lamott’s essay, “Shitty First Drafts,” she explains her writing philosophy of just getting ideas down on paper and then editing them later. While some disagree with this method, such as George Dila in his critical response, “Rethinking the Shitty First Draft,” many writers employ this technique to not only better their writing, but to overcome obstacles in the writing process. Even the most successful of writers will say that they actually hate writing, Lamott even compares it to pulling teeth. The intimidation of just starting to write becomes too much and leads writers to procrastinate. For many, an overwhelming, overbearing sense of perfectionism creeps in and creates anxiety and often lead to writer’s block. Everyone writes first drafts, but if a writer allows themselves to let go of all personal judgment and permits their writing to be “bad,” then they will most likely end up with great ideas that they did not even know were inside their heads. Once these ideas are allowed to flow out, then it becomes easier to visualize a realistic way of developing them into a full composition. By writing inferior first drafts, writers can focus on and express their ideas while overcoming the difficulties typically associated with the writing process.

Reading Lamott’s and Elbow’s articles, you find many similarities that can be used to support the other writer’s point of view. However, there are also differences that both authors seem to disagree on. Both articles explain the importance of a rough draft. The rough draft is the foundation for all writer’s creativity. It is like a toddler doing art for the first time. They get a piece of paper, splash a little paint here and there, glue some feathers down, toss an insane amount of glitter on it, and done! It’s chaotic as a whole and does not really make sense. But, if you look closely certain areas of the piece really look beautiful on it’s own. Creativity does not always have to be perfect the first attempt and that is what Lamott and Elbow are trying to tell us.

I liked this article of Anne Lamott about Shitty First draft because it was easy to read and understand .I learned as Anne said: The writers don’t know what they are doing until they’ve done it. I’m agree with the paragraph about the first draft is down draft because I think starting is the hardest level to do anything and with down draft you are free to bring everything on the paper with knowing that no one is going to see it. The common thing I noticed is that writing is hard also for good writers . and almost all good writers start with shitty first draft and you have time to fix it later . The exercise of hypnotist was very interesting for me . That you isolate the voices in your head and you can get free of them by putting the people who

Unlike reading, when writing, it is important that grammar, spelling and vocabulary terms are used correctly, therefore restricting me from writing in the way that I would prefer. The most stressed phrase while in high school was, "It is not the content of the essay, but rather the mechanics of grammar and speech that are most prominent." Unfortunately, I have never been one to enjoy the art of writing. In fact, I was recently given a diagnostic test, determining at which level I write and whether or not I should be upgraded to a higher achieving English class. Unfortunately, I did not pass the test with flying colors. This was not due to the fact that I am incapable of writing a good paper, but rather that I am unable to write in a limited amount of time, using the emphasized principles of correct; grammar, vocabulary and spelling. In the reading, Shitty First Drafts, by author Anne Lamott, it is a fact that in order to write a brilliant paper, a first draft must be created. According to Lamott, "The Only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts, all writers write them." (94) This is a quote in which I can relate being that in order for me to begin a final draft, I must first have written a first draft, usually one that is in absolute

The first article, “Shitty First Drafts”, written by Anne Lamott talks about writers who wrote first draft in order to improve their writings in the final writing piece. Often, it is difficult create a sentence immediately because it is difficult to find the right words. She argues that nobody can be able to write professionally in the first place and it takes time to practice depending on the person. While she was discussing about her job experience in writing, she said, “I write first draft that was twice as long… with self-indulgent and boring beginning” (Lamott 7). It is surprising enough that even though that she seems like a professional writer to still made small error and had trouble finding the right words for the article she is writing. Her argument about creating the first draft was straightforward as she has quite an amount of experience in the