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.
For my action plan I will add more pictures to my website and continue to expand on my topic. I also plan to make posters to place around campus to reach outside audiences and use that as my nondigital source. I will continue to work over the weekend to finish the project and best carry out my message on my website.
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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