Reflective Essay 'Shitty Rough Drafts'

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.

Marius says, “If possible, read your rough draft just before you go to sleep. Many psychological tests have shown that our minds organize and create while we sleep if we pack them full before bedtime.” (paragraph 5) I had never heard of these studies before reading this article, but it definitely makes sense and I plan to give it a try on my next writing assignment. On the subject of writing rough drafts though, my previous teachers have almost all drilled it into my head that you must write at least two to three rough drafts. If you do not write at least one rough draft and then rewrite it as a final draft, but you only write one draft period, then in a sense, you are just turning in what should be the rough draft. Then you end up with a grade on the paper that is just that, rough.

Michael Jordan is arguable the best basketball player who ever played the game. A phenomenal athlete with the unique combination of fundamental soundness, grace, speed, power, artistry, and an unquenchable competitive desire, Jordan single-handedly redefined the NBA superstar. The thing that separated Jordan from the rest of the all-time greats was his compulsive need to win. Jordan was and is still known for his intense competitiveness and will to win, but that has not translated to his ownership of the Charlotte Bobcats.

A “rough draft” is something someone writes with the express purpose of getting their ideas out on paper. Expectedly, more often than not, people will write multiple drafts before writing their final, in an effort to get to their best paper. I was, of course, introduced to the phenomenon that is the rough draft in middle school. Interestingly, whenever I attempted to write a rough draft, my thoughts would become muddled and slowly but surely, I was left with nothing to write. Hardly after being introduced to the rough draft than I jettisoned it; in fact, it is because of that dismissal that has prompted me to adopt a different method.

Writing is a practice that most of us were taught when we were young. We were taught the basics of grammar, how to form a sentence, conjunction words, how to write paragraphs and more. Although we have learned this skill while growing up and have used the skill every year after entering kindergarten, this does not mean our writing process will ensure the best work. The authors that I chose each encourage their audience to excel in the art of writing in their own way to help with the writing process.

The first step of my writing process when I write a traditional essay consists of brainstorming. If a certain format is provided, I have to brainstorm the order of my key points. On the other hand, for some assignments I am given the specifics of what I need to talk about (like these Log Its) and even given subheadings which I must include to offer a professor better access and recognition of key parts. Once I begin to write, I never have in mind that what I write is a draft of any sort. Personally, I like to keep up with my grammar, spelling and punctuation as I go, so once I finish, the paper is pretty close to being finished with very few mistakes. Sometimes, I type a word that I doesn’t fit into the context but at that time, I have a couple of sentences in my had that I know will disappear if I don’t type them out, so I type (?) after the word to remember to find a synonym or change the word.

Upon entering English 111, I knew I would be writing papers. However, I did not anticipate how much room I had for improvement. Throughout this term I have been enlightened with so much knowledge that I may have forgotten or have been exposed to for the first time. Certainly, my experience with essay writing has been solidified due to newfound knowledge of proper work citing, MLA standards and the steps of planning an essay. Perhaps, my time away from a learning environment slowed me down a bit, other times I feel as though I have an advantage due to life experience. An online environment has certainly been challenging but throughout the course I have provided solid work and consistent grades commendable of an A grading.

I also like to make little notes on my paper about what I'd like to change to make everything come together. I do tend to write so fast so I go back and correct little mistakes at the end. This part of the process is the hardest for me because I start to get aggravated and overwhelmed trying to make the essay as clear to my audience as I can. I also want to make sure everything I have written flows together and that I stayed on topic which as I mentioned above is challenging for me.

Also I have learned that by doing the draft step by step as in introduction, body, and conclusion also helped me get through the process of writing the draft. Not doing all the draft at once really helped because if did not feel the pressure of having to finish it all together. First, I would do the introduction and then maybe thirty or sixty minutes later, I would do the body, then after another short brake, I would do the conclusion. This has helped a lot with my draft because between those breaks I would think of something else to include in the paper. As well as giving my self time to think this way of drafting gave me an opportunity to check me paper more thoroughly because I would check each section individually and that way I found mistakes I would have missed before.

I totally agree with what the author is saying in the text. It takes time to get a good product out even though we think some people are deep and wonderful they still have the same struggles that we have when it comes to writing. I like this text because it is realistic it is giving an account of first drafts from common day people and shows how it is even for professional writers have problems with. This point is important because as people we sometimes feel we are not as good or capable of doing something not realizing that the people we look up to have the same problems we do. Another point that I agree with the author on is that you have to start somewhere. Many times as writers we don’t know where to start when it comes to writing. That being said we will just sit and think for ten twenty minutes when we could've just been information on the paper and then editing it later. In addition I liked that the author used examples from his professional experience when it came to writing food reviews. By him using details like how he went to the restaurant and sat down with friends and took notes of what was said. This was good to me because it helps me connect with him and the things that he does to write his reviews.

I do not have a rough draft of my essay. Regardless, I understand how I have improved in my writing skills compared to the beginning of the year. It would take me hours to write a paper. I could not write a single sentence unless it was exactly how I wanted it. When I wrote the Iliad prompt, I tried a new approach and composed what I thought and edited it later. I did not feel distressed over this paper, instead I was confident I could finish the prompt easily. When I finished, I emailed my brother the essay to edit it. When it was returned, he only corrected a few grammar mistakes and told me to edit it before I sent it. Then, I reread my essay and realized what I wrote was a poor essay. It contained a ton of errors and the sentences did

She argues in how to write clearly and she said that there is no person who writes me and most evident from the first draft sometimes must first draft of the script and the second and third draft of a draft of the order to be clear

My first semester as a college student has been a roller coaster. In English Composition Ⅰ, I wrote many papers; some stood out more than others. The papers I am most proud of are “One House, A Million Things”, “Not Another Family”, and “Starbucks or Starsucks?”. Throughout the course of the semester, I have learned new ways to express my thoughts on a new level. The basics of my writing process has stayed the same, but I have learned new techniques. I always have a topic in mind first, then I normally just start babbling on and on about the topic. This semester we learned to ‘rip the roo’; in other words erase the entire thing and restart. I do not have to completely rip the roo every single time, but ripping part of the roo has become a huge part of my process. I will erase a section here or there to make the flow work better. Once I have my rough draft where I want it, I go back and fine tune the paper to make sure all aspects are where they need to be.

Throughout my time in English Composition 111, I have learned that one of the most important things in writing is drafting. Coming into this class, my drafting included nothing more than a jumble of ideas in which I had no specific plan or structure. As you may notice in my first person essay, my final copy was nearly identical to my draft. This was because I attempted to make my draft a final paper by just writing the ideas in my head. As time went on, and eventually when I reached my cultural essay, you may notice my draft is more of an outline to what I planned in my final essay. They looked a lot different because when I revised, I was able to move paragraphs around to make the essay flow better. For example, in the draft, I planned to make a whole paragraph in the end about criticism of white rappers when, in fact, it sounded better when mixed in with talks about white privilege and slang. In my personal essay, however, I was not able to do this because it was almost impossible to change anything because the whole essay had a set structure.

Before I came to college, I felt my writing had to follow a certain pattern and be fixated around one way of thinking. What I was fortunate to learn was quite the opposite. Writing does not have to follow any certain pattern, but can rather be structured through many different possibilities. I was also told in high school that my papers either had to agree or disagree with the given topic, even if I believed otherwise. This formulated a very one-track way of thinking when it came to my papers. Now I know that I can let my mind explore new and exciting ideas. I can agree, disagree, compliment, criticize, and question the author however my heart desires, as long as I have the evidence to back myself up. Many authors in the book, Writing About Writing, explain their processes as well as the processes of others when it comes to writing. As a writer, I can draw on my own processes and relate them to the authors, as well as use their ideas and apply them to myself. Through reading, I have learned new methods of invention, planning and revising, and incubation when it comes to writing. All ways I can use to create more meaningful and creative work.