Shitty Rough Drafts

The article, “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott opened my eyes about the writing process. What she talks about is really true; I feel thst it is important to write a perfect paper on my first try. The most difficult part of writing a paper is always developing and idea of what to write and realizing that you can always change what you write down if you don’t like it. It is hard to imagine professional writers going through this process, but it seems plausible considering everyone has to start somewhere. I always assumed it was rare that I had trouble with writing, but this article obviously proved me wrong. It made me realize that rough drafts are an essential part of the writing process. Without rough drafts, finding a thesis and a direction for a paper is extremely difficult. It might be hard to get used to the free-flow writing style at first because of the way we have been taught to write in school all these years. Most of my high school career writing classes consisted of short in class writing in response to an article or story. This kind of writing forced me to have to write as close to perfect as possible on the first try. This training has transferred into my writing that I do at home as well, making rough drafts is a foreign idea. Now, after reading this article, I feel more confident that I can write a rough draft without worrying about it being flawless.