Fight Or Flight Work Summary

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.

However, most of the time I will despise writing and try to avoid it as much as possible. The reason I do not like writing is, because I frequently have so much to say and I cannot grasp a way to organize everything. When I write for enjoyment I will mainly write about the thoughts in my head and nonchalantly caring if it makes sense or not. It’s like the difference between a doodle and a drawing. A doodle is just a “whatever” picture. It is just randomly drawn and it won’t matter if the lines are straight or not. In a drawing everything has to be perfect and neat. I enjoy to “doodle” write and just write my thoughts out about anything, I am afraid to publicly say. I’ve been taught to write by having teachers just tell me what they want me to write. The part about me learning to write I kind of have taught myself using some of the knowledge that previous teachers have given me. Not only, but I also, face several challenges as a writer like the lack of creativity and writing descriptively. When I write, I like to just state my point or main idea, but I struggle with describing it in depth and explaining my main idea as specific as possible. Some writers make a drama and explain everything so clearly and their emotions, however I am not that type of

The first step to being successful, no matter what you’re trying to succeed, is to recognize your weak points, your strengths, and your limits. I myself know that I have several, and when I say several, I mean several, weak points when it comes to writing papers. The first and most lethal to a student who wishes to be well, is procrastination. I will always put writing a paper off till the last minute. In fact, I’m doing it right now as I’m writing this. I’m already doing what I say I’m not supposed to be doing. You can probably tell that I’m off to a great start. The next on the list of things that will brutally murder a student who wishes to do well in a class are distractions. Of course there is a multitude of things that can distract

When presented with the question, “who are you as a writer?”, I was speechless at first. But after thinking about it, I realized who I am as a writer has been influenced by so many different sponsors throughout my life and there was not a short, concrete answer. Brandt mentions that “literacy is sponsored by people, institutions, and circumstances that both make it possible for a person to become literate and shape the way the person actually acquires literacy.” (Brandt 43) My attitude towards writing has been influenced by teachers, both negatively and positively, by my mother, and by academic assignments over the years. My answer to the question can only be answered by a narrative of my writing life. I have convinced myself that I am a terrible writer, and when presented with a writing assignment, I get anxious instantly. I see writing as a burden and a huge obstacle that gets placed in my life. Academic writing is not fun, but something I value due to the fact that we are a grade driven society. When writing, I write to the guidelines in order to receive points for the requested criteria. The reason being, I gave up on expressing my own ideas because I had been shut down by so many teachers throughout my education. I tried to write down what came to my mind and put my own twist on things, but that was not the “right” way to write papers. In order to make both my teachers and my grades happy, I wrote what they wanted to hear, and even then I was not to the level they

Reading the two articles, Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts” and Donald M. Murray’s “Write Before Writing” numerous times made me realize a connection with their writing process that I can relate to. Lamott believes that every good writer, or every writer should write shitty first drafts because the writer will produce better second drafts. In her article, she gives examples of her writing struggles and gives her point of view of the writing process. In order to have a good piece of writing, one must write all of their ideas onto paper. Murray’s article gives some instructions on how to create and start a better writing. He expressed that writers should give time to what they’re going to write about, so that they can understand and make it easy on themselves. After reading the articles, I realized some of the complications I suffer within my writing process, but one strategy that I found helpful is Lamott’s drafting development strategies.

We all have a choice when writing to not complete the task. But is it really going to kill us? We build up this wall and have all of these excuses because we are scared of failing. I believe it’s the end of the world when I’m writing. My palms become sweaty; I look for all types of excuses to procrastinate. After reading this article, I have learned that I’m not by alone. Feeling this way is normal and I can learn to be a better writer. I will take some of Anne’s suggestions and try to quiet the voices in my head. I will begin to write down my ideas as they pop into my head because no one will see all of my rough drafts. This will allow me to take the time to review my work with a clear

As a writer, I find myself getting lost. Typically, when I go to start writing I hit a brick wall. It’s as if all my thoughts suddenly escape my mind and I draw a blank. It takes me forever to conjure up some form of a thesis and then takes even longer to figure out what I should write to support it in a way that makes sense. Then, attempting to find a way to organize my ideas and put them together in cohesive paragraphs seems like an impossible task in the moment. It is not uncommon for me to get flustered and just throw something down on the paper because I get anxious seeing how much work is left to do. If I end up going back to read it over prior to submission,

When I sit to write, I have to think about what I want to say. This is not easy for me as I tend to think about several things at once. Clearing my mind and focusing on the writing task is a challenge in itself. I do not consider myself a strong writer and find it intimidating especially when I know it will be critiqued. The sense of failure when seeing the paper I worked so hard on look like the newest local headline of a recent murder is disheartening for me. I assume I am being overly critical of myself but those feelings seem to be redeemed when I look over the aftermath of what was my wonderful work of mental art.

Fear impacts everyone. For some individuals, fear comes in a good form; it pushes one to achieve success. But for others, it can be dangerous and a continuous burden. In William Golding’s novel, “Lord of the Flies”, the boys’ suspicion of the island and those that roam it, is the downfall in to savagery. The boys first decide to paint their faces, followed by trying to show their aggression to the beast, breaking rules, openly admitting to carelessness, metaphorically raping a mother pig, and remaining naked although they had clothes. Over the course of a few weeks, the boys slowly demonstrated fear and evolved in to uncultured beasts.

To write well, a person must be disciplined. Several writers including Bret Anthony Johnston, Anne Lamott, and Stephen King all agree on this. A person must be able to sit down and put their thoughts on paper. Johnston writes in his introduction to Naming the World that, "What I believe in, as a writer and a teacher, is a dedication. And stubbornness. And discipline. Being a writer is, in the fullest sense of the word, a vocation" (xv). Johnston writes word for word that writing requires dedication, discipline, and hard work. He is correct when he says that. Almost anyone who's written anything can attest to that. Lamott also writes about the hard work and discipline good writing in Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. She writes,

Many people hold their own personal experiences and opinions about writing. Whether they be positive or negative, those viewpoints one may obtain will shape them as a writer. For example, if someone has had a traumatic past with writing, they might be afraid of it. On the other hand, a healthy writing background may aid in alleviating the stress one feels towards their writing. Several factors play a role in how people write and the emotions they feel about it. Surprisingly, even famous authors have insecurities about their work, such as, Anne Lamott and she revels them in her piece called “Shitty First Drafts.”

H.P. Lovecraft once said, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is of the unknown.” No matter where someone is, what time they live in, or who they are, there will always be fear. In the novel Lord of the Flies, a group of boys including those of Ralph, Jack, Piggy, and Simon are trapped on an abandoned island after fleeing from Britain during the time of WWIII. At first, the boys are civilized and even vote for a leader, but reality sets in and the children’s civilized government ceased to survive. In the Lord of the Flies, fear was present since the first chapter of the novel.

When I'm actually writing, I write as fast as a turtle can crawl. A 2 page essay usually takes me around 6 hours to finish. My teacher once told me to use a process called brainstorming which I tried but found it not very helpful. It's no brain buster for me to start an essay. I just sit down, roll up my sleeve and start jotting down that first sentence. But what comes next is an arduous journey. I usually have thoughts going on in my head and while I'm pondering on which thought to put down on paper, I would forget what they were and I have to start thinking all over again. It is extremely taxing on me mentally. Once I'm stuck, which occurs almost after every sentence, I would reread the whole essay again. Worst yet, I have a fond habit of procrastinating. I can only write in peace and quiet, and that's only possible after everyone's in bed. Then surrounded by the infinity darkness of my room, I would merge with my paper and pen under the dim table lamp voided from the consciousness of space and time. Only when dawn glimpse through my window, would this timeless eternity be shattered. I would wait until night to start my writing trek, and "night" means the night before the assignment is due. This way I can finish the essay in one attempt instead of having to span over

Do you know the feeling? The gnawing. The vague sense of dread that there is a paper to write, another assignment looming, a saxophone to practice: an overall fear of work hanging like a cloud over the atmosphere of the mind. “Perhaps,” the unspoken conversation usually proceeds in my mind, “I should check the internet before I get to the work. Something new might have happened. The squad is probably doing things without me.” Whether by distraction, discouragement, or a general unpreparedness, something keeps creators from producing their work. The struggle against it is endless, and in his book, The War of Art, author Steven Pressfield defines this force, this phenomenon, as Resistance. Resistance has several key identifiers and expresses

Writing has always been something I dread. It’s weird because I love talking and telling stories, but the moment I have to write it all down on paper, I become frantic. It’s almost as if a horse race just begun in my mind, with hundreds of horses, or words, running through my mind, unable to place them in chronological order. Because I struggle to form satisfying sentence structure, it takes me hours, sometimes even days, to write one paper. It’s not that I think I’m a “bad writer,” I just get discouraged easily. Needless to say, I don’t think highly of my writing skills. When I was little I loved to both read and write. I read just about any book I could get my hands on, and my journal was my go to for my daily adventures. Although it’s