Shitty First Drafts Analysis

First drafts suck; the end. But the process is a requirement for great writing, one that many writers would be helpless without. The first draft is an exercise in brainstorming ideas; with no ideas, you can’t realistically write a paper. And that is why Lamott has come to terms with the process, whether she actually wanted to or not—“…I would eventually let myself trust the process—sort of, more or less.”

“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.

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

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).

Anne Lamott is a college graduate, the author of a variety of fiction and nonfiction titles, and has been a columnist for a multitude of magazines. In an excerpt called “Shitty First Drafts,” from her book Bird by Bird, Anne tells the reader that almost every great writer uses horrendous first drafts to create better drafts and works afterwards.

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.

Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts” presents an argument to eliminate the understanding that writers create a masterpiece on their first drafts. The first draft is simply the first attempt that writers create to turn their thoughts into a final paper. Lamott tries to convince the “uninitiated” that everyone writes “shitty first drafts” and often times, positive outcomes come from those first attempts. One of the biggest obstacle in writing is the fear of creating terrible paper and many writers do not realize that this is actually the most important part to a good article. Lamott provided an effective rhetorical situation because of her persuasive appeals and structure.

In Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts”, the author speaks to a broad range of individuals. Lamott’s intended audience is struggling writers because she tries to explain the pressure everyone feels when they are tasked with a writing assignment. In Baker’s passage, the author is speaking to all teachers when it comes to science or writing. He is trying to have other teachers comprehend the importance or writing in science and also gives steps to help make better writers in the process. His audience is leaning more towards science teachers but all teachers that require writing in their environment can learn something from Baker. Meanwhile, Johnson targeted audience is department chairs for psychology and students looking to improve their writing within this discipline. She is trying to explain to psychology majors and professors the importance of finding a writing technique that statistically works for that degree. Lastly, Makenzie’s audience is intended for teachers to understand why writing is important in biology.

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.

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

In the reading, “Shitty First Draft by Anne Lamott,” she talks about her struggles on writing a perfect just like anybody else does. People lives are not perfect, just the same way your first essay is written. Anne first tells us how nobody can sit down and write a perfect draft right away. Not even me that I’ve been going to school non-stop, I cannot sit down to write an essay draft. I would sit down and rub my head or just write on as piece of paper what my essay would be about.

As long as everything that needs to be said is making it onto paper, anything extraneous that may come along with the crucial details can be taken out later. Lamott also puts major emphasis on this idea of getting any and all ideas out on paper, even if they do not make sense the first time around, and even in the case that the topic of the draft is not entirely clear. In first drafts, there is no such thing as the wrong word or the wrong paragraph, there is only raw ideas, and that is the basis that any good work, whether it be a novel or a review in the newspaper. Lamott explains that sometimes, in her very rough, way too long drafts, there may be an excellent idea. “There may be something in the very last line of the very last paragraph on page six that you just love, that is so beautiful or wild that you now know what you're supposed to be writing about, more or less” (326). Overall, it doesn’t matter if the first draft is completely irrelevant to the point that was originally being made, because there is always the possibility that in the random paragraphs, something more substantial can be found. In the words of Ray Bradbury himself, “Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things” The first step in great writing is getting some ideas on the table, save

In the essay “The Maker’s Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts “, Donald Murray explores the relentless process a writer may go through to edit their work. Murray explains that a writer should depend on himself to successfully scrutinize and edit the multiple drafts it takes to create a writing piece. This process can require the creator to rewrite a draft many times. This is necessary for the writer to produce a writing that will express exactly what the writer is trying to convey.

In "What is 'Academic' Writing?", by L. Lennie Irvin, we are introduced to seven myths about writing. However, the writing myth I most closely relate to would be #3, there's no such as a perfect first draft. In my early years of writing, I would often impression a rough draft as pointless, so I would jump right into my final copy. I continued this method until I started taking high school English and noticed my writing standards began to depreciate. I then realized the best solution was to put in the time and effort and organize a rough draft that allowed the revisal of any mistakes in my writing that would effect my score. A draft is called a draft because it does not need to be perfect, it just needs to be efficient enough for someone to