After reading Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts”, take a minute to compare and contrast your own first draft (and the experience of writing it) with Lamott’s descriptions. What did you notice? Did anything surprise you about this short essay? Did anything offend you? (100-150 words)
At the bottom of your post, please type/include your REVISION PLAN STRATEGY
I can sort of relate to what Lamott is trying to articulate about the first draft experience. She is trying to say that the first draft is not going to be perfect, and that it is okay to write the first attempt for yourself. You shouldn’t worry about judgement or how others will interpret your writing, that is for other drafts. However, I don’t relate to her explanation of having a “childish” first draft. While my first draft isn’t perfect, I don’t revert to a childish state and write nonsense. I may write some undeveloped statements, but they all have some kind of intelligent idea behind them. Perhaps the reason that Lamott gives this advice is because she is talking more about storytelling than essay writing. I am not the type of person to write a draft “twice as long as it should be” (Lamott). I don’t understand how writing down things that you know are nonsense will benefit you in the end. Maybe it’s just me, but I like to have more of a filter when I am writing, especially for academic purposes.
Revision Plan Strategy:
My Goals for Revision (in order):
- Look at ways to make my sentences flow more smoothly in my introduction
- Look into breaking up my paragraphs so that they aren’t as long
- Edit places where I use “metaphor” too much
- Re-read for grammatical and sentence structure errors
I am going to try to edit my essay structurally to make it more reader-friendly. Most of the feedback that I got was on construction, and ways that I could better support my text with word choice, paragraph construction, etc.
Most likely, the biggest challenge that I am going to have is trying to break-up my paragraphs. One of my peers said that it may be beneficial to split them up so that my points were more clear. I agree, but I originally structured my paragraphs off of larger points, so now I have to look into my smaller points to break them up.
Once I revise my paper, I plan to utilize my peers for feedback on whether or not my changes were effective. I can ask my peers in class to read over my essay once again, but I can also ask my friends who are not in class for their opinion. Getting feedback from someone who doesn’t know the sources and background information as well as myself and my classmates could be beneficial to knowing how easy my essay is to understand. My goal is that even people who haven’t been learning about metaphors and their importance will understand my essay and my argument.
Ah! You ask how writing things down that one sees as “nonsense” can help. Allow me to play devil’s advocate. Remember our writing process assignment? Sometimes, writers need to about something freely (without pressure to produce clean or “useful” sentences) in order to arrive at an insight. I love your honest questions. Keep them up. Everyone’s process is different, and I encourage you to continue to vocalize your own.