Quote #1: “practically even better news than that of short assignments is the idea of shitty first drafts. All good writers write them. This is how they end up with good second drafts and terrific third drafts.”
My response: While I don’t know if this statement is entirely true it would make sense that once you have your ideas laid out before you can play around with the material. And the more you fine tune it the better the out come is
Quote #2: “all I had to do was write a really shitty first draft, of lets say the opening paragraph (to get started on her writing)”
My response: I would say that it seems like a good idea although me personally I take out a piece of paper and write whatever comes to my mind.
Quote #3: “the whole thing would be so long and incoherent and hideous that for the rest of the day id obsess about getting creamed by a car before I could write a decent second draft”
My response: great I feel a lot better about my writing now that I know its not just me and most even “professional” writers have a bad first draft.
Quote #4: “then a month later when it was time for another review (Anne Lamott used to write food reviews for a publication) the whole process would start again complete with fears that people would find my first draft before I could rewrite it”
My response: it feels reassuring that us students still start out the same as accomplished writers even thought they have much more experience we all start with that shitty first draft.
Charles Pessin
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