Shitty First Drafts By Anne Lamott

In Anne Lamott’s article, “Shitty First Drafts,” the topic of authors is brought up with the idea that professional writers always know exactly what they want to say and how they want to format the information within their first draft. Obviously, that is impossible. Lamott went as far as to mention another writer who sits down to write in the morning and says to himself, “It’s not like you don’t have a choice, because you do—you can either type, or kill yourself.”

In the essay “Shitty First Drafts”, Anne Lamott addresses aspiring writers on the subject of the dreaded first draft. Lamott uses a disarmingly humorous tone to illustrate the value of putting pen to paper and writing shitty first drafts. Lamott goes on to say, “The first draft is the child’s draft, where you let it all pour out… knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later” (234). The essay successfully delivers this message by use of its light and conversational tone. This amicability aids the essay by allowing the precise communication of the author’s ideas, by portraying the author personably and empathetically, and by allowing the author to finally advise from a place of authority and practicality.

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.

Writing is a powerful tool for communication and connection. As an extension and expression of the mind, writing is as much about the mental processes of the author as it is about the final marks laid to paper. As we write, we hold in mind our own thoughts on the work, anticipate the reader’s thoughts, and think both in concrete and abstract ways in order to accomplish the task at hand. Whether an academic research paper, a novel, or text message to friends, writing seeks to engage, persuade, or impress concepts upon an audience. Like language and other art forms in general, the practice of writing is ever-evolving and is subject to cultural and contextual influence, expectations, and conventions. Each writer holds a theory

In ‘’Shitty First Drafts,’’ by Anne Lamott argues that in order to create ‘’ terrific third draft’’ you must first start out with a ‘’shitty first draft’’. She believes that every good writers, should write shitty first drafts, because the writer will produce better second drafts and ‘’terrific third drafts.’’ I completely agree with Lamott, because the first draft will never be flawless, and therefore from the moment I start writing an essay I fairly pour everything out, all of thoughts and ideas into the first draft, which becomes my ‘’shitty first draft’’. In my first English class in college, I was explained it’s beneficial to write a ‘’shitty first draft’’, since the first draft is like an exercise. Thought out this course I continued using Lamott idea of writing a first shitty draft. Thus whenever I created my first draft I only wrote my views and indications and it was always atrocious, although the process I took was precisely helpful in creating final draft, for instances I would gather all the information plus during the teachers ' conference I would take all of the errors the teacher exposed put into inconsideration. I always wrote a first shitty draft my final draft would be strictly acceptable. Nevertheless it is paramount to create a first shitty draft, because occasionally the mind goes blank and other times the mind is full of the ideas and beliefs, and since it’s the first draft later on add more knowledgeable ideas to the final essay.

Early on McCarthy states the the point of this study and article is to, “Contribute to our understanding of how students learn to write in school.” (234). McCarthy literally wants to make the point that learning to write should be viewed as a growth process from both a social and individual aspect depending on the situation. (234). McCarthy observed a college student as he took three different courses composition I, poetry, and biology. McCarthy explains that through her examination of the the

In Dan Berrett’s article, “Students Come to College Thinking They’ve Mastered Writing,” the idea of freshman thinking they are or must be a refined writer is discussed. Students may think this way coming into college, but their teachers do not. While students might feel satisfied and think that they are prepared with their writing skills, professors found that these students did not necessarily meet the expected level (Berrett 1). Many students reported that they would normally write around 25 hours every week. They said that most of those hours of writing was for more formal purposes like passages to make changes in society (Berrett 1). It was found that one reason the new students might feel this way is that their assumptions about writing differed greatly from those of faculty members and their expectations. One big thing that students will not get for a while, is that good writing is not just listed as a bunch of steps one is to follow that automatically make one’s writing good. Good writing requires one to be in different mental states; it requires the understanding of how to write for different audiences and different reasons (Berrett 2). Berrett includes in the article that writing is not just universal and that in order to do very well, writers must use different forms of writing specifically for their purpose (2). It seems as though students think that, before they even take a class, they are supposed to know everything about writing; in reality, they are supposed to learn new skills and enhance others (Berrett 2). Berrett says that many believe the schools these students previously attended with their test focus might cause these feelings about writing (2). Berrett ends his article by saying that students these days do not think that informal writing actually counts as writing, and that students should practice writing for informal purposes because it can help them (2). Even if they feel like it, students are not fully prepared to write in all contexts when they arrive at college.

Whether while writing an essay or a birthday card, we have all struggled to find the proper words to illustrate our thoughts or feelings from time to time. Upholding the occupation of a writer would multiply that struggle tenfold. An occupation that depends on interesting, fluid pieces of writing every submission requires an adequate number of attempts and patience. Lamott expresses that writers “all often feel like we are pulling teeth” (Lamott), which proves the difficulty of writing is still there no matter the level of writer behind the work. Lamott also emphasizes that a writer “has to start somewhere” and shares her friend’s ideas in her writing to simply “get something - anything - down on paper” (Lamott). Lamott, and the other writers mentioned in this piece, carry incredible track records, while still admitting that perfection did not come initially, or even easily. Thus, proving that the Shitty First Draft has a place in any writer’s notebook or Word document. Lamott’s admission to struggling to properly begin a piece of writing surprised me, given of her success. I could not imagine a woman of her accomplishments stressing out over a food review, yet I felt relieved that someone of Lamott’s title relates to an amateur writer like myself. I often put off my writing as well when I cannot articulate a proper introduction. I do every other possible homework, or shy away from homework in general because the

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.

Murray is insightful not only to instructors but also to learners. Murray argues that the challenge facing writing is the fact that teachers have treated it as a product rather than a process and the same concept passed on to students. The author holds that the main problem with this view is that students get to receive irrelevant criticisms that are not related to their learning goals. While I tend to agree with the author based on the arguments presented, it is notable that Murray has paid little attention to the idea of education in the contemporary world. In most learning institutions, the outcome of the writing is considered more than the process. As a teacher paying attention to the process of writing but not be consistent with the students, who are mostly driven by

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

Everyone knows what writing is to one extent or another, but we all have different definitions of how it should be done and varying degrees of seriousness about the art. We all have a process of writing, but each is unique to ourselves and our own experiences. Annie Dillard and Stephen King are two well known authors who have published many pieces, two of which describe how they view the writing process and let their readers get a peek of what goes on through their minds when they write. These two pieces are Dillard’s The Writing Life and King’s “What Writing Is.”

Anne Lamott begins off by expressing in "Shitty First Drafts" that practically everybody composes terrible first drafts, yet they keep in touch with them so as to bring about a significant improvement drafts down the line. She even depicts the picture of the splendid writer taking a seat to compose a tremendous first draft easily, and how this picture is once in a while accurate. She says that the first draft is the "youngster's draft" where you simply get everything on paper for yourself, knowing you can set aside a few minutes. It's great to do this on the grounds that in those ramblings, something exceptional could be composed which might be utilized as a part of the following drafts. She depicts how when she was writing sustenance

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

But I then thought, I shouldn’t talk about writing. Few of this graduating class will wish to be writers, and those that do should by no means be encouraged. Weave a circle round them thrice, and close your eyes holy dread, because who needs the competition? What with the proliferation of Creative Writing courses, a mushroom of recent growth all but unknown in my youth, we will soon have a state of affairs in which everybody writes and nobody reads, the exact reverse of the way things were when I was composing dolorous verses in a rented cupboard on Charles Street in the early