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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…
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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.…
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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.…
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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.…
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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,…
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In Anne Lamott’s article “Shitty First Drafts,” the author writes about first draft that are “incoherent, hideous” and just downright “shitty.” The author explains how even professional writers sit at their desks with fear in their eyes, and desperation in their heart dreading the writing process hoping to get some type of enlightenment that will help them write their next story. Lamott then goes on to elaborate how that fear and anguish is exactly what great authors need to create their masterpiece. According to Lamott a “child’s draft,” is exactly what writers need to get their ideas on paper. A “child’s draft” is usually the first draft where thoughts flow freely, later the writer goes back polishes the shitty first draft to create a decent…
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‘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,…
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Be careful about submitting your initial draft. Allow yourself sufficient revision time. Rather than just proofreading, create a second draft. Then, proofread this draft and make any needed changes. This will ensure that no errors have been overlooked and that the quality of the writing is…
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“Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott discusses her opinions on first drafts, how she believes others dislike first drafts as much as her, how she gets past getting through her first draft, and her own experiences with first drafts when she worked as a food critic for the magazine California.…
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* 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…
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The five steps of the writing process are equally vital to the succession of any writing assignment, whether it is for work or school. The five stages include PREWRITING, PLANNING, DRAFTING, REVISING, and PROOFREADING. As our text (Arlov, 2014), explains, “Writing is not a single act, but a process composed of several steps,” (p. 3). Moreover, constructing a strong paper that is well-written (no matter how tedious it seems), requires efficaciously executing all five phases. It is crucial not to take shortcuts by eluding any step of the writing process.…
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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…
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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…
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“When students complete a first draft, they consider the job of writing done”. Generally this is what all students wish to happen. People wish they could just get things done the first time around. Unfortunately in the draft process readers have to proofread and modify their content for improvement and perfection. Leading to not just one but possibly many drafts written in order to meet perfection and/or satisfaction. In The Maker’s Eye by Donald Murray, he stresses the importance of revising your own essays. I agree with his reasoning because of criticism, audiences, and voice.…
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The daily scream therapy of my neighbour in the shower does not fail to act as an alarm clock every morning. This daily “alarm clock” was a good enough reason to not succumb into the pressure of calling the police. The rhythmic sound of everyone’s steps outside gave birth to the gravel, small as peas which moved beneath their feet and from it a faint dust rose, the perfume of the town. This perfume I had to get used to now, this perfume I will smell for the years to come. This foreign town was now my new home, away from all the sadness, unfulfilled relationships and the past, a town full of versatile people, some doctors, some painters, some chocolatiers and some farmers, all with big houses towering over them. A town still rich with bicycles and kids playing in the streets early in the morning, the streets filled with the aroma of bread this all felt very new to me, I was a city dweller, this made me feel great unease.…
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