Shitty First Drafts
- Anne Lamott From Bird by Bird
- Sep 22, 2015
- 2 min read
Summary:
The life of a writer is not how people usually expect it to be.they don't just sit down and start writing great stories. In fact, "Not one of them writes elegant first drafts" (page 1, line 23). Anne Lemott argues that writing a terrible first draft results in a great second and third draft. "Very few writers really know what they are doing until they've done it" (page 1, line 28). It is not as simple to start writing and constructing their essays. They don't know exactly what words to use. It takes time and dedication. In order for Anne Lemott to write anything, she first has to write a shitty first draft. This is where one starts writing down all their ideas, even if they're kinda stupid.
Lemott used to write food reviews for California Magazine. She would always have trouble writing, and felt like giving up. But she knew that she would be able to do it, she just had to write a shitty first draft. She knew that her first draft would be really terrible, which was fine, because those are the ones that lead us to writing really good final drafts.
Synthesis:
Honestly, this article completely changed the way I viewed writers. I used to be like those who thought that "they sit down at their desks every morning feeling like a million dollars, feeling great about who they are and how much talent they have and a great story they have to tell; that they take in a few deep breaths, push back their sleeves, roll their necks a few times to get all the cricks out, and dive in, typing fully formed passages as fast as a court reporter" (page 1, lines 16-20). I had always thought that writing was natural for them, and that it was really simple.
When I'm trying to write an essay, it always takes me really long, and I never know what to write down at first. Not only that, but whenever I finish my first draft, it always ends up looking like shit. It's good to know that I'm not the only one who struggles writing a first draft. Now I know that the "shitty first drafts" are the results of really great final essays.
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