It is very in line with my Libra self to agree with both of the readings we had to go over this week. In Lamott’s “Shitty first drafts” she talks about how EVERYONE writes a shitty first draft and is basically drawing conclusions and making generalizations. In George Dila’s response he is basically saying, it’s cool if you, the reader, do that but not everyone is doing that so don’t generalize! So if I had to pick a side I believe I’m siding with Dila. I get Lamott’s point and to some degree I fully believe that a lot of writers brain dump and need to put pen to paper just to get the gears spinning. However, for me personally, as someone who is an avid “revise while I am still writing” type of person Dila’s point just resonated with me more. On the flip side of things I also know that many of my peers will write and rewrite a paper 100 times before they feel they have gotten it right. Dila definitely sold me on his point when he gave the example of building a house. He says, “The builder begins pouring cement for the foundation, it is uneven and the cement is somewhat watery, but he can’t stop to fix it. He begins hammering the walls up. They are cockeyed, and a bit shaky, but no problem, he can fix them later. He begins working on the roof. Oops. Forgot the electrical wiring. Well, he’ll get it later.” This explains how if you don’t nip things in the bud those small revisions can turn into issues that need major revision and may affect your entire story.
Another thing I noticed about Dila’s response was that it did feel like his ego was a little bruised by Lamott’s article. He literally starts off the article by saying “I do not write shitty first drafts.” which after reading the rest of his article, I further understand that he is saying he edits so much while writing that there really is no room for a shitty first draft. I think a lot of this argument definitely has to do with how you view yourself. Do you allow yourself to freely have those sloppy moments or do you always feel pressure to be perfect. I believe the two sides of this argument are more of a deeper rooted issue rather than just a first draft.
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