Shitty First Drafts, By Anne Lamott And Rob Jenkins's Shitty First Drafts

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When a person begins writing a paper it can prove to be a difficult task. Where do they begin, and how do they get to where they need to be? The articles “Shitty first Drafts” by Anne Lamott and “Accordions, Frogs, and the 5 Paragraph Theme” by Rob Jenkins bring together freewriting and careful organization into a symbiotic harmony. One has the reader focusing on letting their creative thought flow, and the other has their focus on an effective and adaptive formula. While each have their own unique viewpoint on how the writer can initially achieve their goals, the end goal is the same. With practice and skill, a little bit of freewriting and a little bit of organization can go a long way. Lamott suggests in “Shitty First Drafts” that many people imagine good writers as being able to miraculously put out a complete and polished piece of work in one sitting. She also plainly reminds the reader that this is an idealized fantasy. Writing is hard work, and it can be very intimidating. To overcome this, she offers the …show more content…

With “Shitty First Drafts” the focus is more on overcoming fear and forgetting judgement to allow the creative thoughts flow freely. Once the writing is done, the writer can return to their work and revise however they see fit. The disadvantage of this method, however, is that the writer could end up with something chaotic, and time-consuming to reorganize and edit. This is even suggested in “Accordions, Frogs, and the 5 Paragraph Theme”. With practice and knowledge of basic organization skills, authors are able to save precious editing time and keep a readable train of thought into something effective. Conversely, adhering purely to a reliable formula, however adaptable, may cause a dependency to occur. If a writer is unable to stray outside of their formula or expand beyond their comfort zone, they may end up with content that is stale and

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