Mar 22, 2023
When it comes to writing and the process in general, everyone has different methods that they use to help them reach the goal of finishing the perfect paper. For some individuals such as Anne Lamott, who is the revisor/author of “Shitty First Drafts” writing first drafts is the technique she uses when she writes. Nonetheless, there is no expectation of having a perfect paper during her first drafts. In fact, not even a good one. She uses it as a system to let her mind speak freely and writes anything that she thinks of no matter how childish, or unflattering it might sound with the plan to fix it at a later time. In her article “Shitty First Drafts” she 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.”
Drafts Do Not Have To Be Shitty!
However, George Dila completely disagrees with Anne Lamott’s idea that one has to write first drafts in order to have a good paper; and that all good writers who ended up getting their books published and successfully were able to do so because they started by writing first drafts. Anne Lamott writes in her article, 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. On the other hand, George Dila’s idea is that not everyone has to write first drafts to have a successful paper. She believes that everyone has different writing routines that they use that work for them. As for her, she revises and fixes the mistakes as she writes because it works for her. She compares Lamott’s writing method to a builder who continues to build a house knowing that the foundation is crooked. Only to demolish it later on and start from scratch. She does not entirely condemn Lamott’s idea, it’s just her belief that just because this method works for Lamott does not mean it is the only one that will work for others as well. George Dila says in the article, Rethinking The Shitty First Draft, “Not to say that wonderful literary work cannot be produced by pouring it all out and fixing it later. But it is not as Miss Lamott and others would have us believe, the only way to write. So my advice is to write the way that works for you.”
Writing A Successful First Draft
After reading those two articles, I find myself much closer to Dila even though I can be slightly like Lamott. When I’m working on an assignment, I like to first write my information on paper before I go on to typing it. So I can consider this to be my draft. Contrary to Lamott, however, not only do I put every effort to make sure that I write well the first time, but I also revise and fix my information as I go. If I think of something I should add or cross out, I immediately go back to that line or paragraph to do just that. I also find a conflict with Lamott and what she said. She talks about pouring it all out but, at the end of the article, she says that she describes the different voices that come to her head, and what she does to quiet down those voices. If you want to pour it all out there should be no need to eliminate the thoughts that come to your head.
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