In reading Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts,” I found that there were a few points throughout the essay that I said to myself “yeah! I totally know what she’s saying.” And “This isn’t far off from the process that I go through when writing essays for school.” In the essay, Lamott says “The first draft is the child’s draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later.” This is one of those passages that really reflected the process that I went through in writing my draft, and any draft I’ve ever written for that matter. When I sit down to write a draft I get out any and all ideas floating about my mind, knowing that even though what I am initially jotting down probably wont make the final cut. Because through my writing experience, I’ve learned that If I let all my thoughts spin around in my mind I find myself sitting there unable to find a place to start. But, If I only write down all of my ideas, I can see them on a page and find the best wording and order for all of my thoughts. With that being said, I didn’t feel insulted by anything in the essay. Because, writers are after all, human just like everybody else. And, their natural talent as a writer does not exempt them from the process., or even those shitty first drafts.
My goal in revisiting and re-editing my draft is to tone down some rather ramble-y passages and convert them into sentences that achieve my idea, but in fewer words. In addition, I hope to revisit me introduction and be sure that it hits all of the bases that I visit throughout my essay. In reading the peer edits to my essay, I found that I very much agreed a lot of her points and my first step will be to visit some of the passages that she highlighted in her edits. My biggest challenge at this point is defiantly going to be taking what I have so far in my essay and fashioning that into something more word-efficient but still an essay that hits all the aspects of my thesis on the head. In the event that I sit down to meet this goal throughout the week and struggle to do so, I will be sure to further utilize my peers to be sure that my word choice makes sense. Because, when I write I often find myself writing passages that make total sense In my head yet fail to make sense to the reader. So, with this being said I will be sure to utilize a readers perspective to check if my wording reflects the ideas I’m trying get across, prior to submitting my final draft.
