3 quotes from the passage:

  1. “It’s not like you don’t have a choice, because you do — you can either type, or kill yourself.”
  2. “The first draft is the down draft — you just get it down. The second draft is the up draft — you fix it up. You try to say what you have to say more accurately. And the third draft is the dental draft, where you check every tooth, to see if it’s loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy.”
  3. “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”

 

Answer to Question 3:

From what Lamott has been stating I believe she is saying that the first draft is more of a process. This is because she states that the first draft is where you jot down any ideas you want into a piece of paper. Through that you revise your work then check if there are any things you want to add or take out of that work. Through this process you get your product which would be your final draft. Also, it wouldn’t make much sense if it was meant to be a product since what you’re going for in a first draft is for jotting down ideas. Finally, she literally calls her writing a “Shi*** First Drafts.” I would agree with her saying it’s a process because whenever I write up my first drafts, I just write down anything that I have in mind that correlates with what I’m trying to write about. When finishing it I reread my draft and see if there are any corrections I have to make in my draft. Then that is where I get my final product. Which would explain why many of our teachers/professors from before would tell us to write a first draft so then we can later give it any corrections if needed.