Category: Process

After reading the piece “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott, I can’t really say that it has changed my view on the writing process all too much. The process given, granted is still a very good one from what it seems. I’ll say for one, I don’t really bother to try and write more than one draft. More specifically, I write and then proofread. Sometimes I don’t even proofread if I don’t give too much attention to something that I am writing. I do have to say that I kind of fit in with those people that Anne Lamott described as “the uninitiated”. I always thought that professional writers would have a solid process that let them go through the whole “1 draft plus proofreading” like I do. Of course I do think that it’s reasonable to write a draft following proofreading. As to whether or not I use her process in my own writing, not really. At times I might write down ideas to use and cross out the ones I do not like. However, most of the time I will just do that sort of thinking in my head. I generally only think a sentence ahead or two for any random thing that I am writing and paragraph by paragraph for actual planned assignments like an essay.

My view on writing has definitely changed after reading “Shitty First Draft”. I always thought that as a professional writer it was easy for them to pour out their thoughts and ideas onto paper. I didn’t think that they too struggled with their writing being that they are professionals.

My writing process is very similar to Anne’s. I tent to first write out all my ideas on paper as a first draft. Not too worried about how it comes out. I then go back and clean up the first draft by crossing words out or highlighting sentences to correct or words to replace. Like Anne, I tend to get frustrated as I continue to write because it is not coming out the way I want.

One thing she does differently that I will be doing is that she would wait for the next day to then go back with a clear mindset and revise her work. I usually break night just to get my writing just the way I want. Like Anne stated, “eventually let yourself trust the process”.