BLOG #2: SHITTY FIRST DRAFTS

“Shitty First Drafts” made me realize that even the greatest writers don’t start off with perfect first drafts, that even for them it’s a long process before they can reach their finished product. I feel like this is something everyone needs to realize, including myself, when writing their first draft, that it doesn’t have to be perfect. Even Anne Lamott admits to having shitty first drafts and feeling like anything she writes will just be an epic failure.

Something that Anne Lamott mentioned that really stuck out to me is that “the first draft is the child’s draft.” The first draft should be a continuous flow of thoughts and ideas, without worrying about whether or not it sounds right or if it makes any sense. Your first draft gives you a starting point, a foundation from which you can build up from. It doesn’t matter how “shitty” the starting point is because you can always go back, fix it and make it pretty later.