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…
Practice makes perfect, a common idiom to try to perfect in some particular activity. In this essay, Anne Lamott describes the case of writing horrendous first drafts on an essay or a research paper. She designates how she went through her writing process. Anne tries to explain that ‘shitty first drafts’ needs a great idea to begin with and on to writing the next draft(s). Creating the order of the drafts by making a subpar first drafts can lead to a good second drafts and an excellent third draft, or the final copy. She assumes that writing is not rapturous. The only way to create masterpiece(s) is to start in something small, which in this case, to create…
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.…
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.…
Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts” is an argument and an admission from an industry veteran. A Herculean effort may be necessary for writing because life requires the same strain. Lamott’s personal conflicts and self-doubt have built an amazing opportunity to use her story to convince her audience that for some people, perfectionism and self-criticism can be the cause of failure. Through the prolific use of metaphor in the form of personification and interesting similes relating to her personal experiences, Lamott lays a foundation in her life story and aggressively finishes with a sound logical argument. For Lamott, it is okay to have shitty first drafts because those are just a step in the difficult process of writing.…
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…
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…
In her work “The Inspired Writer Vs. the Real Writer”, by Sara Allen is about two different type of writers, the inspired writers and the real writers. The inspired writers are the kind of people who don’t have a problem writing essay, or anything that has to do with written in general. They are very confident about their work. On the other hand, real writers are people who seem to have writers block way too often. This writers seem to also have trouble in handing in papers without looking over them. Mostly they think that improve on something that just doesn’t come natural to them will never happen.…
One common technique used numerous times throughout the essay I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read is the rhetorical question, a strategy that uses questions with implied answers that the reader must determine by an author’s purpose and tone. When Prose uses rhetorical questions, she writes them after suggesting the solutions earlier in the essay, using the questions as a sort of conclusion. After an analysis that books such as Huckleberry Finn are only being studied in school for their racist aspects instead of their true meanings, Prose asks a series of rhetorical questions in paragraph 39, beginning with the following: “But why not tell the students that [books on current reading lists are works of art], instead of suggesting that Mark Twain be posthumorously reprimanded?” She then gives her opinions on what parts of the book should be discussed in the classroom in the form of questions asking ‘why not?’ Prose chose to use this method because it makes the audience…
In Francine Prose’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Cannot Read: How American High School Students Learn to Loathe Literature”, the author is trying to explain why high school students are not asked to read more quality pieces of literature now a days. In my opinion I agree with Prose because I think the texts we read in high school are not challenging and not a lot of students enjoy the readings because they cannot relate. Prose uses the rhetorical strategy of degrading the books high school students are reading and she uses her own personal experiences to support her argument.…
In the book titled, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, she describes different techniques in how she goes about writing. Lamott mentions how much she procrastinates before writing drafts because sometimes panic sets in and also how her mind wanders at times. For example, she states that “I think about someone I’m really annoyed with, or some financial problem that is driving me crazy, and decide that I must resolve this before I get down to today’s work” (17). Although I do not write all that often, if I have a task at hand that is due in a timely fashion, I find that I too will procrastinate before getting to that task. I actually have done so in this first assignment. Feeling uncertain on whether or not I am doing this correctly is a reason I believe…
Prose exposes numerous straw man arguments with To Kill a Mockingbird. Prose critiques the novel in a confident, yet slightly harsh manner. She believes that the novel could’ve been different if there was just a bit more detail. Prose interprets To Kill a Mockingbird in a way that focuses on prejudice and racism.…
In a book about racism and crime, why is the title about mockingbirds? Mockingbirds signify innocence. Atticus says that to kill a mockingbird is a sin. Just like people who kill mockingbirds for fun, people kill innocence, in this case other people who are innocent. Atticus tells Jem and Scout to never to kill mockingbirds in a figurative and literal way.…
Maria Doria Russell wrote The Sparrow in such a stunningly clear but complex way that the reader will want to keep reading the book. She presents the timeline of the story through presenting two story-lines. The first of which begins in the future where we are presented with the last survivor of a space-mission gone wrong with a sickly man, in such a devastated state of sickness and unbearable wounds which hooks the reader into wanting to find out what exactly happened to him- as does the rest of the world in the book. Then the follow-up of the backstory of this Jesuit Priest who is a wizard with grasping language and how he got to end up on a space voyage. It is through these alternating shifts between the future and the past there is a build-up…
Johnson's class had been. I was no longer scared or anxious. We wrote in our journals twice a week for the rest of year and I never made a bad grade Throughout the year she challenged me in many ways, but because of her I now I have confidence in myself and drive for excellence, not only in school but in life as well. I would not consider myself a good writer, but she definitely made me into a better writer and because of that I am here today. One of the scariest days of my life had turned into a very successful day, the day I began to have confidence in myself. Because of all of the journal writing in Mrs. Johnson's class, I am a better writer…