“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. You just let this childlike part of you channel whatever voices and visions come through and onto the page.”

“For me and most of the other writers I know, writing is not rapturous. In fact, the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts.”

“Now, 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. ”

Lamott says that the first draft is more of a process. She continues to explain that it is more of you just writing down your ideas and to get it done with. I can relate to this because whenever I am writing a first draft I tend to just keep writing whether it’s useful or not I just put it that way I won’t have to stop and think whether I want to include that on later drafts. It can somewhat relate to the first quote above from Lamott “You just let this childlike part of you channel whatever voices and visions come through and onto the page.” I tend to do exactly that whenever I am writing about a topic, whatever comes to my mind whether it’s a good or bad thing about the topic. Lamott also mentions that the second draft is suppose to build upon draft one for example, I stated how draft 1 is more of your ideas and really unorganized however draft 2 is when you sort it out and see where you place this and that. Which also means that the 2nd or final draft is more about the product and how good it is like grammar, facts, organization, neatness, etc.

1. “First I’d go to a restaurant several times with a few opinionated, articulate friends in tow. I’d sit there writing down everything anyone said that was at all interesting or funny. Then on the following Monday I’d sit down at my desk with my notes and try to write the review.”
2. “If one of the characters wants to say, “Well, so what, Mr. Poopy Pants?,” you let her. No one is going to see it. If the kid wants to get into really sentimental, weepy, emotional territory, you let him. Just get it all down on paper because there may be something great in those six crazy pages that you would never have gotten to by more rational, grown-up means.”
3. “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something — anything — down on paper.”

Lamott says that the first draft is more about the process. She infers to this by explaining her own process of drafts and does not mention the product while doing this. Yes I agree in regards to my own first drafts. This is because when writing my first draft I tend to write down anything to get it off my mind. Then in my other drafts I will reword it to make more sense. This reminds me of when Lamott states “The first draft is the child’s draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place…” I do this every time I write a draft so I don’t forget to write any important thoughts down. If I write a first draft it would not be the final one so I don’t try and make it my best one. Only when I am on my final draft do I make sure that everything I wrote down goes well with my purpose. The purpose of your writing is really important and vital to your final product, but when I am writing my first draft I don’t think about it. Basically I never think about the product in my first draft; I only think about the product in my final draft which agrees with Lamott.