I find that writing can be a challenge for me when I don’t have a concrete set of rules to follow and structure the flow of my ideas; it can also be challenging when I can’t muster up the patience to sit down and focus for more than two microseconds, but that’s beside the point. Writing can be hard, and that is why I feel like Anne Lamott’s Shitty First Drafts is a great read for anyone struggling to plop down and get their ideas out. Lamott acknowledges the issue in writing, where the writer focuses too heavily on creating a perfect product from the get-go and urges writers to just write without a care for what’s good and what’s bad. Personally, as someone who struggles with writing creatively (often getting stuck in the loop of trying to tie certain narrative threads together before I even put pen to paper), Lamott’s ideas inspired me. Just write that crap down! Shitty things can be fixed, but a blank page will always just be a blank page until you write something down.
I resonate so heavily with Lamott’s ideas, that I found myself rolling my eyes at Renee Long’s Why I Reject the Idea of Shitty First Drafts (And What I Do Instead). Renee Long feels that Anne Lamott is encouraging writers into unhealthy behavior, where they see their writing as shit but otherwise believe in Lamott’s ideas. If you ask me, Long is more concerned with how something is being said rather than what is being said. Furthermore, I find myself rejecting her notion that a writer shouldn’t see their work as “shit”. My favorite movie is Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom, and even Steven Speilberg has gone on record stating that he hates the way it turned out. And Spielberg isn’t the only one like this, plenty of writers studied today would tell you the same thing (don’t quote me on that). What I’m trying to say is, you’re not gonna be a great writer if you don’t hate yourself and what you create.
Okay, all joking aside, I still feel like an understandable degree of self-criticism goes a long way in helping people improve their work. If you just coddle yourself and pat yourself on the back for a job well done, you’ll never have that drive to improve upon your limitations. I’m sure Renee Long understands this but I still feel that she focuses too heavily on the idea of thinking that what you write is shit when Anne Lamott is specifically telling you to write something that IS shit SO that you can fix it later. But then again, different strokes for different folks. I understand what works for some might not work for others but I shudder to think where my writing would be if I coddled myself the way that Renee Long suggests.
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