When I read “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott, about a year ago, I felt connected to her ideas of shitty first drafts because it was a way to justify my shitty writing or when my mind would go blank when writing an essay. I felt relieved when reading her piece because it made me believe that it was okay to bomb my first draft. Lamott argues that great writers and novelists don’t start writing amazing words/phrases right off the bat when they sit down. Great writers start with a very shitty draft and struggle like anyone else. Writers like herself, have a writing process in which they start with very bad drafts, and second drafts, and keep perfecting or improving their writing pieces. Lammot suggests that shitty first drafts give you the courage to write something that you wouldn’t write if from the start you’re being subjective or are trying to keep it excellent. All her ideas are realistic which helps students understand that writing is a process and that we’re not just going to sit down and magically have a well-written essay on our screens. Writing takes time and it’s okay to bomb our first draft, but after reading “I Reject The Idea Of Shitty First Drafts” by Renee Long, I can’t help but disagree now with some of Lamott’s ideas about shitty first drafts.
Let’s not call them shitty drafts
In Long’s article/podcast, she rejects the idea of calling our first draft “shitty” because it can make us feel more shitty about ourselves. Long states that when our spirit is demoralized, tired, confused, or blocked, a shitty draft makes us feel more shitty (Long.) This statement 100% resonated with me because when my mind is already blocked and I write a shitty draft knowing my mind was lost when writing, it makes me feel even worse calling it shitty because it discourages me to keep writing. What if we turn the tables around and not call our draft shitty and call it our “seed draft” as Long suggests. Changing the word to a “seed draft” gives me a sense of a start to an essay. I feel as if I have the foundation or concrete ideas instead of feeling more shitty about my “shitty draft.” So let’s start by not calling them shitty drafts anymore because nobody wants to think of their creativity as shit (Long.)
Acorns transform into oak trees
The analogy of an acorn growing into an oak tree which Long compares to writing made me realize that our ideas do not have to be called shitty. Long states that there is nothing silly or shitty about an acorn, it’s just a nut that will eventually turn into an oak tree. An acorn doesn’t have branches, a trunk, or leaves, therefore it cannot be called an oak tree. In order for an acorn to grow into an oak tree it has to go through a process and it’s the same way our writing works. We start with a “seed draft” and go through a process to transform it into a beautiful oak tree. The acorn represents our ideas and creativity. The time it takes for an oak tree to grow is our writing process and how we improve it. This is the reason why I have changed my mind about Lamott’s idea of a shitty first draft. Let’s not give power to our inner critic by calling our work shitty and instead think of our first draft as an acorn that will bloom into an oak tree.
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