Personal Narrative: My First Draft

In Anne Lamott’s excerpt “Shitty First Drafts,” Lamott exhibits her own professional experience writing food reviews for California magazine while giving her audience a peek of her “shitty” drafting process. Lamott’s title is unique and not something you would expect to be reading in a college course. Nevertheless, this piece is effective in comforting the audience of students when it comes to writing drafts. Initially when I read the title I was uncertain what the content would be. However, after reading the first paragraph I understood the purpose behind “Shitty First Drafts”. Lamott’s purpose was to comfort her audience and does so almost immediately by saying “all good writers write shitty first drafts.” This statement alone sets a relaxed

Throughout my childhood I could never say I had the most exciting life, even now I can still say that about my daily routine. Although my family put effort into nurturing me into a well-rounded member of society since youth, I never felt any change or progress personally; it was more as if I simply adapted to whatever expectations my elders had of me. I know this feeling did not apply to me only, in fact, I was once in a classroom full of fifty-two people who accommodated to whatever came their way.

I have a love-hate relationship with writing. I can write well according to some of my peers; though this could just be from the fact that I seem like the quiet, studious, type who has spent most of her time with the straight "A" nerds who went on to top tier schools such as Stanford. Sometimes I am not too sure of my own writing abilities. On most essays, I get a little bit above average grades and every once in a while I get a few more points than usual. I have noticed that my writing is better when I have to write about a topic I am passionate or know a lot about. The more I have to work with the better. Otherwise, my writing seems poor, forced, and somewhat bland. It usually follows a poor or basic thesis statement and lazy paragraphs. I believe motivation helps me to write better,

When students complete a first draft, they consider the job of writing done – and their teachers too often agree. When professional writers complete a first draft, they usually feel that they are at the start of the writing process. When a draft is completed, the job of writing can begin. That difference in attitude is the difference between amateur and professional, inexperience and experience, journeyman and craftsman. Peter F. Drucker, the prolific business writer, calls his first draft “the zero draft”–after that he can start counting. Most writers share the feeling that the first draft, and all of those which follow, are opportunities to discover what they have to say and how best they can say it. To produce a progression of drafts, each of which says more and says it more clearly, the writer has to develop a special kind of reading skill. In school we are taught to decode what appears on the page as finished writing. Writers, however, face a different

The lake glistened before me as my mom and I pulled into Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp just outside Twin Lakes Michigan. I had been accepted into the International Youth Symphony Orchestra program where after spending a week at the camp the entire orchestra would be heading off on a six week European Tour to share our musical talents and American culture with another part of the world. I knew traveling to a different continent would give me further insight as to who I was a person, but did not imagine the people I would meet would impact me as much as they did.

Writing is something we have been used to since childhood. Beginning to write with just a few words and activities to improve our pendmanship. From easy sentences we all gradually improve our writing, as expected from higher levels of education. However, throughout all this time, many of us have been writing blind. Only writing what is seen an necessary, oblivious to the true skill and precision it takes to actually write quality work. Through the use of Anne Lammott’s article “Shitty First Drafts” and personal experiences, I will advice you, my fellow freshman, on certain a aspect of writing that you may not have known prior to joining the college world, as well as offer some life advice.

In the article “Shitty First Drafts,” the author, Anne Lamott, observes and comments on the flaws laced in having a worthy piece of writing. Through her experiences, Lamott demonstrates that writing does not come easily, comparing writing to “pulling teeth.” Generally, she encourages that every writer should engage in writing a shitty first draft because the writer will eventually follow through in producing a better second draft and possibly, a “terrific third

One’s writing is not always perfect. The idea that perfection lies within a piece of written work is justifiably erroneous. In an excerpt entitled, “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott, Lamott explores how writing as a whole is a revisiting process. Lamott opens by simply stating, “all good writers write them [shitty first drafts].” She then goes on to address how people view successful writers as enthusiastically approaching writing and that it is ultimately “easy” to compose a piece of work; Lamott states that this notion is merely a “fantasy of the uninitiated.”

In 2025, I will be twenty-nine years old and hopefully married. I will be married to my significant other of ten years Earnest Palmer III, who is a dentist. I would have been recently graduating with a bachelor’s in Culinary Arts and trying to plan to open my own restaurant, BubbaD’s Eateries. Knowing my big headed husband of mine, I probably had a baby then and trying to have another baby. Hopefully, by then Earnest will get rid of the idea naming our son, King. We will be living in the suburbs near New York City but working in the city. Being a woman with great memory, I probably wrote a memoir about my crazy life and trying to sell it to a publisher. If none of the publishers wants to publish my memoir, I will probably sell it the Lifetime

Al, Alde, de, shon, deshon, and Al’Deshon my name takes on many forms. Kind of like my writing in a sense. I have never been a strong writing also being the reason, I took this class first semester I think. If I get it out of the way maybe I’ll have an easier chance of reaching the finish line happening to be graduation.

The process I used when writing previously changed during the first few weeks of this class. Already I have altered the way I write my drafts, and the way I read other people’s work. Lamott’s “Shitty First Draft” made me come to the realization that one draft isn’t always the best approach. Therefore, I took multiple steps in examining my draft and critiquing it accordingly. Additionally, I started brainstorming topics, and this led me to create a roadmap for the list of destinations and topics I wanted to touch on and the message I wanted the reader to take away. This is just the beginning of the year and I already have a sense that as I progress through the semester my work will be continually get better.

Thinking about our first writing assignment, one of the suggestions focuses on the comparison of writing to running, it became apparent to me that this is something I would enjoy writing about. I am a long time running advocate, competing in marathons, and a neophyte writing student, and I find many similarities in both endeavors.

I’m sure I am the “ole guy” in the group at the age of 57 years old. I can hear what you are thinking, this guy is older than my parents. I first started college in 1977. It was fairly short lived and un-eventful, my priorities were not in place and as a result I dropped out. Contrary to what you have just read, I have always been a positive, goal oriented person, college just wasn’t that goal at the time.

The next day couldn't come fast enough. I woke up extra early that morning to get ready. After I took a shower I put on an army green baggy shirt, my black skinny jeans with a tear in one of the knees and my adidas. I left my hair natural and did light makeup. It was Saturday so I didn't actually have work today, but they said since Justin likes my help so much that they would like me to make sure he gets home safely and that he's fine when he gets there.

While I still have insecurities about my writing, my method of “drafting” has helped me overcome my biggest insecurity of all: writing the first draft. To my amazement, my dreadful writer 's block did not make a single appearance throughout this whole semester. Usually, I care so much about how other people perceive me that I can’t turn something in until it has reached my standards -- if it ever does. But realizing that the first draft does not have to be seen by others, and thus does not have to be coherent, helped me confront my perfectionism. For all my papers in this class, my writing process for my first draft consisted of writing a thorough and solid outline, and filling up each section of my outline with word vomit, getting the general ideas that I want to convey onto paper. That was all there was to