Preview

Shitty First Draft

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
315 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Shitty First Draft
During the writing process, one first has to get his or her thoughts on paper. This paper is known as the first draft. When writing a first draft, the writer tends to wonder whether it is more important to get all of his thoughts down than it is to write it well. There is more than enough time to revise your paper so that it is concise and well-structured. Since thoughts come and go, it is important to get them down on paper as quickly as possible. According to Anne Lamott, the author of Shitty First Drafts, the process of writing a first draft is not rapturous. She states that the “only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts.” She later states that what a character says is not overly important

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In her article, “Shitty First Drafts”, Anne Lamott writes about how having “shitty first drafts” is one of the key components of the writing process. She believes that writing a “shitty” first draft will lead to writers writing “good second drafts” and “terrific third drafts.” Lamott illustrates through her experiences as a food critic that writing does not always come easily. In order for there to be a “terrific” final piece of work, the writer needs to first allow for the words and thoughts to come flowing out without restriction. Lamott explains that she would go to the restaurant to review them numerous amounts of times with her friends. She would then write down her friends’ opinionated words about the restaurant. Here she was writing…

    • 506 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this child’s draft of just visions and impulsive thoughts, she lets it all gush out and let it slope all over the place, thinking that only yourself are going to see it and shape the draft later. After cutting out lines and phrases that she doesn’t need, she would continue on to rewriting a better second draft. She used to write food reviews for a California magazine; from there, the writer learned a lot that food reviewing was not only typing and commenting on the food but it also need a clear structure of explanation. Lastly, Lamott tells readers that this whole rough drafts process is just a persisting cycle, and it will soon happen again. If I use some of these techniques that Lamott mentioned in this paper, then maybe I can begin to have some comfort when writing my first draft and to create wonderful pieces of art that are out of my potential. No matter how “shitty” the first copy may be,…

    • 1039 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Anne Lamott Summary

    • 341 Words
    • 1 Page

    In the book Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, she writes an excerpt, Shitty First Drafts, which is about the impact and importance of the first drafts of writing. Anne explains in the beginning of this excerpt that all writers write shitty first drafts and the drafts get better as you write more and work on the writing more. Lamott claims that “writing is not rapturous,” she explains that the only way that she can write anything well is to write a very bad first draft and just work on fixing that. She explains that sometimes you just have to type and get your ideas written out to be able to write a good piece of work. Once someone has been writing for so long, they have to have the ability to be able to just trust their writing process and understand that the first draft isn’t going to be perfect. Nothing is perfect on the first try, you have to keep working at it. Sometimes the first draft will be the worst thing someone thinks they have ever written, but they just have to go back to it and try to make it better and revise what is wrong. A writer has to start somewhere and they work from there. Just because the first draft is a bad draft doesn’t mean that the final work will be terrible. The first draft is the terrible draft, the second draft is the slightly better draft that has been picked through lightly to better, and the final draft is the “dental draft.” The dental draft is the draft that you really pick through and make sure that everything is perfect. In other words, the final product is checked “dentally” to make sure that it is “healthy” so that the final product is perfect. Lamott’s entire excerpt is just explaining that whether or not your first draft is perfect or not, the final product will definitely be better and more acceptable.…

    • 341 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “Shitty First Drafts,” a selection from Bird by Bird (1994), Anne Lamott claims that in order to write effectively it is necessary to just get a first draft written down, no matter how crappy it may be. She does this by disproving the assumption that great authors just sit down and magically spit out an amazing piece of work and by sharing her own experience writing awful first drafts. Ms. Lamott, an accomplished author, shared her experiences in order to demonstrate how all readers need to write that abhorrent first draft. She is writing to other, less-experienced writers to reassure them, and to help them become better writers.…

    • 304 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Lamott shows the purpose of the essay “Shitty first drafts”, to persuade the reader “for the need to let go and write those “shitty first drafts” that lead to clarity and sometimes brilliance in our second and third drafts,” through what readers learn, by unveiling the reality of writing a first draft and by emphasizing the process over the product of a first draft. Lamott teaches the reader that making a rough draft is to get as many words down on paper, no matter how bad it turns out, to set up the other drafts for success. Additionally, she says that the first draft process is “not rapturous”. In fact, the only way [she] can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts.” Lamott advocates that writing a first…

    • 205 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the article, “Shitty First Drafts”, Anne Lamott discusses the topic of writing what inspires the brain for a first draft is a valuable approach to compose a paper. Anne confesses specialized writers even await a response for a hint at writing their next scoop. However, when the writer has first attempt to begin writing perfection they experience dread and edginess. This is what the writers need to write the best they can. In order to wind up with great second drafts and phenomenal third drafts, fruitful authors should upchuck out their thoughts on paper. Stated by Anne, the first draft is called the “Childs draft” a mess of words only for one’s eyes. Subsequent to backpedaling and modifying the first draft, start to structure and adjust…

    • 174 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    ‘Shitty first drafts’ is an excerpt from the book Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. It informs us about the importance of the shitty first drafts in the development of quality content for books, articles, essays and whatever else a writer intends to produce. Lamott claims that all writers write these drafts and that is how they eventually end up with the great subsequent drafts that they release to the public. She adds that the idea people have where a writer wakes up and has it all together in terms of what they will write is a fallacy that rarely happens. The author informs us that the only effective way through which she does her writing is by first putting down ‘really, really shitty first drafts.’ She begins by letting out all the ideas she has on paper bearing in mind that no one is going to see what she has written. This gives her the confidence to go on. Even though these ideas may be all over the place, there is something in the midst of it all that stands out and leads her in the direction that she would take. She explains to us by saying,…

    • 594 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “Shitty first drafts” explains throughout the story about how unlikely it is that someone will just write something amazing, it gives examples including a writer sits down feeling good and just writes, then explains how rarely that actually happens. It says that the writer should write whatever comes to mind because something useful might happen but you might never get to that point if you don’t write everything. This story even goes as far as to say that the person who writes perfectly the first time has god on their side, further suggesting how rarely it occurs. According to the author “almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts.” In other words its saying that even if your first draft is shitty there is still hope for it.…

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Shitty First Drafts

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages

    * Talks about how it is okay to fail the first draft because nobody will read it or the 2nd one but they will read the final…

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Bird By Bird Analysis

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Written by almost all good writers, sloppy first drafts are a way to begin the long writing process, while still allowing mistakes along the way. In order to make a piece of writing absolute, one must start at the bottom and work up from there, making small changes along the way. Lamott exemplifies the importance of these first drafts through the use of her own and others writing experiences. While sharing her experience…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Good writing gets to the point quickly and uses concise, well-worded sentences to communicate ideas. By integrating the following three simple strategies into your writing, your prose will be tighter and easier to read.…

    • 919 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Out of all the steps in my writing process, I believe prewriting was the most helpful. In prewriting you’re supposed to let your thoughts flow without stopping and making changes. So because I didn’t take the time to stress on proper grammar and more, I was able to start my first draft faster. Prewriting also helped me narrow what I wrote into groups, in this case the importance of rice in my family. Not only did prewriting help me narrow my writing into groups, but it also helped me, who was struggling, to find topics to talk about.…

    • 1657 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Why Plan Your Writing?

    • 989 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Once you've written a draft you can then go back and proofread your writing. This is the time to check your spelling, punctuation etc.…

    • 989 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Interest In The NFL Draft

    • 1828 Words
    • 8 Pages

    The question of the week is why should you guys be interested in the NFL Draft? One of the many reasons why you should be interested in the NFL Draft is because it’s one of the most important weekends of the year. Therefore if any sports fan or even college fans that don’t care about the NFL but, care about their college team to see where their favorite players on their favorite college team will go and continue their careers. “It’s no secret that the NFL draft is catnip cut with Vicodin for the Pro football fans.”-Dave Zirin. In my view it kills the long awaited anticipation for the NFL season to get started as I’m a huge fan of the draft and get excited because that means the season is about to start. There are a lot more reasons why…

    • 1828 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lively Art of Writing

    • 17974 Words
    • 72 Pages

    In other words, never sit down to write until you have thought long enough and hard enough about one subject to have an opinion about it—an opinion that you believe in and want to share, one that you can defend logically and honestly. Most writing skills are relatively easy to learn, but it is pointless to learn them—in fact, you will find it almost impossible to learn them—unless you have learned the first rule, the unbreakable rule, of essay writing:…

    • 17974 Words
    • 72 Pages
    Good Essays