In Anne Lamott, “Shitty First Draft”, she has a comical way of describing her writing process. She explains all writers suffer through the agony of getting something down on paper. There are few who are so inspired or motivated when they sit down to write. There isn’t a sign from heaven giving out perfect first drafts. It is comforting to know even the best of writers will produce a shitty first draft.
Reading through Lamott process, I begin to laugh at myself. It was like she had a ring side seat on my process of writing a paper. She talked about the inner voice and how she had to come to a quiet place first. Before I begin to write, there is a quiet place I have to come to. After I enter into a place of serenity, here comes my pep talk (you can do this girl). I then begin to think about what I am going to write.
The first sentence is the hardest because I want to grab my audience’s attention in the first paragraph. So, I will write anything down regardless of how it sounds. Lamott states, the first thing she does is just write. She fills her pages with words; it’s like a child having a fit. Basically, whatever comes to mind put it down. It will be ridiculous reading, but why should she care; it is for her eyes only. After the first two or three paragraph, I will walk away from the paper until another thought come to me. Then I will sit down and continue to write again. This process happens until I am finish with the paper. Lamott mentions she begins to streamline her article by making writing revision. I will revise my paper three of four times before I am comfortable with it. Upon my last revisions, I will give it to a friend to read, to catch any additional mistakes.
My writing is not the greatest in the world but it has improved over the years. I struggle with my thoughts on what to write and trying to remember all the rules of writing. I have a problem of my hands typing faster than my thoughts. So, what I really meant to say does not come out on paper. There are many processes in writing a paper. I don’t believe there are hard set rules for it. It just depends which process is the best for you. But to be honest, is there such a thing as shitty third and fourth drafts?
Like you, I also have problems with getting all my thoughts on paper. Sometimes I would have to many thoughts written down in my paper. I also would proof-read my paper once or twice before giving it to another person to proof-read it just in case I missed some errors in my paper. Being able to write a shitty draft is the first step in constructing a well developed final draft. Good paper...and who knows if there is a such thing as a shitty third or fourth draft. That's a really good question.
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