After reading Anne Lamott's article "Shitty First Drafts", my previous ideals of turning in a clean, prestige, and polished first draft are over. Lamott shares her own experiences as a writer, along with the frustration and defeat that comes with brainstorming and the lead. Similarly, I and many others share these same feelings. She gives great insight and simplifies first drafts to a T. They are nothing more than the writer's every thought and idea splattered onto the paper, non-organized and messy. Lamott reminds us that it is acceptable to turn in works like these. For almost all of my life, I have had such a concrete mentality of perfection on every occasion--even on first drafts. If I had not polished my draft before turning it in, all I could think of was each mistake that I had made and how I would be critiqued for it. However, Lamott sheds light on common misconception of "perfect" first drafts and encourages writers to lay their ideas on the page, free from repercussions. Overall, I find this article very useful and it has definitely changed my writing techniques and strategies.
This text showed me how us as readers perceive a certain font or text and how it can influence our mood and how we feel about a certain reading. It also showed me how elaborate texts can draw us into something such as a poster or a title page of a book. Also how very bland fonts do not appeal to many readers as they might think of it as boring and plain. This gives me a lot to think about as project three comes closer. It makes me think of the reader and what type of fonts might draw them into my website, social media page, etc. This text was very helpful for this type of assignment.
Like you, I myself mistakenly valued the importance of perfection of the first draft. Instead of just laying my ideas out on the table, I made it harder for myself by attempting to completely edit my original ideas all at once. I too will encourage myself to change my writing techniques.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to formerly striving for perfection in first drafts, and now that I think of it, doing that only makes the editing process more difficult since there is less to work with. I agree that Anne Lamott provided great insight on first drafts, and it has changed my personal writing techniques as well.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to you, I made sure my first drafts were as perfect and polished as possible. This article has also changed my view on first drafts. Making sure the first draft is perfect caused a lot of stress and reduced the amount of time we could have used organizng our writing.
ReplyDeleteI completely relate to dealing with the stress and struggle of turning in a rough draft that I wanted to be perfected and finished so I wouldn't have to fix more in my later drafts. It gave me a lot relief to read this and know that I am not the only one who deals with this, and that a perfect rough draft is never expected. It's good to know that I can just throw unorganized ideas down and it is considered complete.
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