Preview

annotated bibliography of "Shitty First Drafts"

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
256 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
annotated bibliography of "Shitty First Drafts"
Annotated Bibliography (rough draft)
Lamott, Anne. "Shitty First Drafts." Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New York: Anchor, 1995. 20-27. Print. In the passage “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott from Bird by Bird, the author promotes that “shitty first drafts” are the key to most successful pieces of writing. Lamott indicates that most writers have “shitty first drafts” and that “all good writers write them”(21.) In order to have a good piece of writing one must vomit all of their ideas onto paper. Lamott’s friend calls it the down draft (25.) In this draft you should get all your thoughts down, even if you sound like a child (22.) The first draft isn’t going to make much sense but it doesn’t matter because no one is going to see it(23.) With this “down draft” you can edit it and organize your thoughts into the up draft (25.) “The up draft” is where you take all the good things from “the down draft” and write an organized draft that makes much more sense. “You try to say what you have to say more accurately”(25.) After that comes he dental draft, a draft where you nit-pick and refine every aspect of the writing, like how a dentist would “check every tooth, to see if it were loose or cramped or decayed”(25,26.) Hopefully the final product is a “healthy” piece of writing. Lamott successfully argued that a “shitty first draft” is the beginning to a great piece of writing so you just “need to start somewhere”(25,26.)



Bibliography: (rough draft) Lamott, Anne. "Shitty First Drafts." Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. New York: Anchor, 1995. 20-27. Print. In the passage “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott from Bird by Bird, the author promotes that “shitty first drafts” are the key to most successful pieces of writing. Lamott indicates that most writers have “shitty first drafts” and that “all good writers write them”(21.) In order to have a good piece of writing one must vomit all of their ideas onto paper. Lamott’s friend calls it the down draft (25.) In this draft you should get all your thoughts down, even if you sound like a child (22.) The first draft isn’t going to make much sense but it doesn’t matter because no one is going to see it(23.) With this “down draft” you can edit it and organize your thoughts into the up draft (25.) “The up draft” is where you take all the good things from “the down draft” and write an organized draft that makes much more sense. “You try to say what you have to say more accurately”(25.) After that comes he dental draft, a draft where you nit-pick and refine every aspect of the writing, like how a dentist would “check every tooth, to see if it were loose or cramped or decayed”(25,26.) Hopefully the final product is a “healthy” piece of writing. Lamott successfully argued that a “shitty first draft” is the beginning to a great piece of writing so you just “need to start somewhere”(25,26.)

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good 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
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good 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
  • 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
  • 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

    Annotated Bibliography

    • 1469 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Tyre, Peg. "The Writing Revolution." The Atlantic. The Atlantic, Oct. 2012. Web. 20 Feb. 2013.…

    • 1469 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Shitty First Drafts

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1.) Ann Lamott is a writer that struggles just like anybody else and whose life is not perfect by any means. She tells us how nobody can sit down and write a perfect first draft and it is okay to write a shitty first draft. They give us ways to sit down and just write the first draft and keep writing till you run out of thought, she then tells us to make revisions to the first draft with a red pen then type your second draft, last but not least make more corrections the your 2nd draft and just write away on your 3rd and final draft. She told us about the voices and all the thoughts that were in her head correcting her paper and how the hypnotist told her to just get rid of them by putting them in a mason jar and just write.…

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Everyday Use Analysis

    • 392 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Cited: Walker, Alice. “Everyday Use”. Literature and the writing process. Ed. Elizabeth McMahan et al. 9th ed. Upper Saddle river: Pearson,2010. 3-7. Print.…

    • 392 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Everyday more and more people try to make a profession in being a successful writer. In this passage, aspiring writer Melusina Fay Peirce writes to novelist Marian Evans Lewes asking if beginning writing at thirty is too old. Evans is moved by this letter and responds mentioning thirty is not too old. In the letter, she comments that even an accomplished writer such as herself is rarely satisfied with hours of work. It is impossible to be an accomplished writer without having years of wisdom behind you. Throughout the passage, she utilizes various persuasive techniques such as refutation and analogies in order to depict novice work as tasteless. In Lewes response to Peirce, she incorporates many rhetorical strategies in order to convey that writers must prepare to be unsatisfied and must not be concerned about flattery because success in writing comes only with maturity.…

    • 724 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shitty First Drafts

    • 507 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the feature article "Shitty First Drafts," the author, Anne Lamott, explains her opinions and thoughts about the writing process of first drafts. Lamott starts off with what she believes in and the process she uses to write a paper. She explains how she develops all her thoughts into a paper by the visual she gives us when she mentions “It was almost just typing, just making my fingers move. And the writing would be terrible.”(12) This shows how Lamott begins and gets all her ideas. She also makes me understand how important these rough drafts are, rough drafts can improve and could help you develop a better essay. Rough drafts can help you overlook common grammar mistakes and help finish your final draft with less mistakes and better organize ideas.…

    • 507 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Literacy Sponsor

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Cited: Sherman, Alexie. “The Joy Of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me.” Writing about Writing.…

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Rhetorical Analysis Essay

    • 1465 Words
    • 6 Pages

    “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 intention of coming back as a more rational adult, (the only one to read this draft), to fix your child-like writing into a more complete and coherent written masterpiece. Beginning writers, (and any other writers), will get a better understanding on starting the writing process with a bad first draft and that it can lead to an amazing final written draft.…

    • 1465 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Shitty First Drafts

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the essay “Shitty First Drafts”, Anne Lamott describes the process of writing first drafts. She addresses the many steps she goes through to come up with her final “polished” works. First, Lamott starts off with a brief summary of what she believes in, she also gives a short description of her thoughts and personal life. Lamott then addresses to what I believe is her thesis and is finally ready to talk about her “Shitty” first drafts. At first she writes what she calls a “child’s draft” which is her first 5 pages of just brainstorming. In this “child’s draft” of just visions and some what nonsense, she does this in thought that no one is going to see this first draft anyway so she gives herself the ability to write anything that comes to mind. However, as a writer she is always nervous that someone will get a hold of her first draft before she is able to revise it. She gives distinct visuals of her process, “It was almost just typing, just making my fingers move. And the writing would be terrible.” After crossing out lines and phrases that she could live without, she would continue on to rewriting a second draft.…

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Heymann vs. Dershowitz

    • 899 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Cited: Barnet, Sylvan, Pat Bellanca, and Marcia Stubbs. A Short Guide to College Writing. 3rd ed. New York: Penguin, 2008.…

    • 899 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays