Blog 2: Shitty First Draft

A shitty first draft helps the writer a lot. Many people get a mental block when thinking of an idea, me included. This first draft helps to relax the person and not make them have a perfect paper on the first try. Anne Lamott explains the process of many writers. She calls the shitty first drafts a “child’s draft.” With this draft, she can write her thoughts but no one but herself will see them. With this she can write anything just to have ideas flowing. A friend of Anne Lamott described the first draft as a down draft because you writes the thoughts without correcting. When I write a paper, my thoughts just go on the page then I make it better later. No one sit down the first time and write a perfect paper. It takes time to make the paper what you want. Anne Lamott tells all in her book, Bird by Bird. She tells how writers don’t sit down and write stiff sentences but neither do they get easily distracted. The first draft may be bad; however, there could be a brilliant idea in all of the crazy that was written. After so long of writing, Anne Lamott learned to somewhat trust the process. The first draft can be longer than needed so that when she edits it it stinks to a more appropriate length. With this draft it causes a person to be unable to be perfect on the first try. A person is allowed to fail and this draft allows that to happen without others seeing. The first draft may be filled with mayhem but can lead to something great.