Shitty First Drafts
The excerpt Shitty First Drafts opens up the idea that when writing you don’t need to have a perfect first draft; in fact a shitty first draft turns out to be a better option. This is something I’ve never thought about doing as in school you are under the impression that everything you write needs to be perfect and everything will be read and graded. It can be very debilitating when you are trying to write a paper and you begin feeling panicked or anxious. Worrying about every word, comma, and/or period. I think the most freeing thing about having a shitty first draft is that you are able to write anything and not worry about if it is relevant to your work at the time. There will be a chance to go back and further develop or completely trash an idea. The point that Lamott so expertly tells is that when writing nothing is perfect the first time around and sometimes you may need multiple drafts and recordings to fully get your point across. I’m looking forward to trying this technique throughout the rest of my college and higher education career as I work through my writing. In this course the importance of revision is not hindered but encouraged. More of this needs to be present in educational teachings as this enables someone to rework their writing, continually editing until their point is across and understandable.
