Anna Lamott First Draft Summary

853 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How to maintain academic honesty

Anne Lamott has an amazing ability to connect with the audience. With use of personal experience and scenarios to be able to connect with the reader using rhetorical techniques such as ethos and pathos. Although her use of vulgar terms may tend to turn off readers, giving her points less impact. Anna opens explaining how everyone has bad first drafts, even terrific writers. It is difficult to be able to sit down and create a perfect first draft. Even the published writers do not sit down and start flowing wonderful sentences easily. In order to get to a publishable essay is to begin with a bad rough draft. First draft is where you just get your ideas down to then revise later on. Anna wrote food reviews for a magazine. She states how even …show more content…

She would just write nonstop in her first draft. Even if it was bad she would just keep writing so that she had plenty to work with later. Her first draft would be excessively long and seem messy and boring. On the next day she would revise her draft and find ways to condense the review, then she would begin her second draft. The next time she had to do a review the stress of the writing would start all over again. Anna explains what the different drafts are for. The first draft is just to be able to put ideas down. The second draft is where you rewrite with the revisions you have made. The third draft is where you check everything and make sure it is perfect and ready for submission. She begins to use metaphors to describe her thoughts when writing the first draft. What I interpret is her saying that all the thoughts in her head are what distract her from focusing on her writing. She states that her mind wanders and that she hears conversations in her head. Years before, she told a hypnotist about the voices she gets in her head when she writes. The hypnotist gave her instructions on …show more content…

In the line, “I know some very great writers, writers you love who write beautifully and have made a great deal of money, and not one of them sits down routinely feeling wildly enthusiastic and confident,” Anne is explaining how she knows writers who are successful in the field in order to validate that what she is going to say about writing is true even for professional writers. Another instance ethos is used in this article is in the lines, “I used to write food reviews for California magazine… Even after I 'd been doing this for years, panic would set in.” Telling the audience that she used to write food reviews for the California magazine gives her a status of a published writer which can give her credibility. Also the fact that she had been doing it for many years shows that she has experience in the field of writing and knows the struggles that come with

Show More
Related

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Shitty First Drafts By Anne Lamott

    1442 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Once people actually write to others, they do things to them, they act on them. Perhaps you have not thought of your own writing as doing something, as acting on readers” (Schmidt and Kopple). She states another time when she says, “I know some very great writers, writers you love who write beautifully and have made a great deal of money, not one them sits down routinely feeling widely enthusiastic and confident. Not one of them writes elegant first drafts” (Lamott). This is yet another example of Lamott going back to the subject that first drafts are supposed to be bad. There is one example of bad rhetoric and it is when she says, “Not one of them writes elegant drafts. All right, one of them does, but we do not like her very much. We do not think that she has a rich inner life or that God likes her or can even stand her.” At first she says that everyone writes bad first drafts and then she brings up how one person doesn’t need to, she went against what she just said and that might cause confusion for the reader. Lamott would tell this purpose to this audience because she wants them to improve in their writing. Anne Lamott wants to achieve the success of helping everyone excel in his or her writing. She wants to inform writers that all first drafts should be bad. She does not want them to feel down on themselves, and to continue writing. This purpose is important because this

    Read More

  • Dancing With Professors By Patricia Limerick And Shitty First Drafts

    566 Words  | 2 Pages

    Both of the articles “Dancing with Professors” by Patricia Limerick and “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott resolve the issues faced by college students when writing papers. The first article, “Dancing with Professors,” explains why college professors expect more elaborate papers even though they assign dull and un-motivational reading to their students. On the other end of the writing spectrum, “Shitty First Drafts” explains how valuable the first draft is to students, and why students should not feel weary about writing them.

    Read More

  • S.E. Hinton

    661 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...e does not discuss what she is writing, while she is writing it. She is afraid that if she speaks of it, it will wear out her idea. She says, “If you want to be a writer, I have two pieces of advice. One is to be a reader. I think that's one of the most important parts of learning to write. The other piece of advice is: Just do it! Don't think about it, don't agonize, sit down and write”.

    Read More

  • Mother Daughter Relationships in works by Chang Rae-Lee and Amy Tan

    778 Words  | 2 Pages

    Both Chang Rae-Lee and Amy Tan use their articles to illustrate the impact their mothers had on creating a respectable ethos as a writer. Lee and Tan are authentic and true, which are great values instilled by a mother that shine through in their writing. These articles are great examples of how much a writer’s ethos contributes to his/her overall argument. As said by Lee, "Having been raised in an immigrant family,…[one sees] everyday the exacting price and power of language…" (Lee 584).

    Read More

  • Women in Athletic Training Profession

    832 Words  | 2 Pages

    The unsuccessful use of ethos makes the reader feel like the author’s piece is irrelevant to read. What’s going to make them believe this author has something to say that is actually worth listening to? It goes as far as the process it took for the author to make the article. Little things like the ones mentioned in this analysis: demographics of the subjects, interview styles and experience, which contribute to the process of making her article, could become big things when it comes to the author’s use of ethos, because it’s all about credibility. The process is where ethos is established for the most part and that’s where Anderson made most of her “little” mistakes.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Bird By Bird

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lamott has a very different writing style compared to many authors. She adds a sense of humor to lighten the mood to her writing, and uses imagery to catch your attention. I enjoyed her humor because I feel as if it is hard

    Read More

  • Anne Orthwood's Bastard Analysis

    1322 Words  | 3 Pages

    John Ruston Pagan’s book, Anne Orthwood’s Bastard, is split into sections describing the different components of sex and law in early Virginia. Pagan describes these components through the story of Anne Orthwood, John Kendall, and their bastard son, Jasper. Anne Orthwood was born an illegitimate child. There was much shame and disgrace for illegitimate children. Although illegitimacy made Anne’s life especially hard, she also faced the same pressures as other members of her generation. Her generation was dealing with shortages of land and labor; increasing prices, rent, and unemployment rates; and declining wages. These struggles caused many people to emigrate from Britain to the Americas.

    Read More

  • Essay On Mary Rowlandson

    554 Words  | 2 Pages

    King Philip’s War, also known as Metacom’s War, began between neighbors that once peacefully coexisted. The outcome was the bloodiest and most destructive war in American history. During this time, many colonists were taken captive by the Native Americans. Mary Rowlandson became a well-known captive of Metacom’s War through publishing a personal narrative of her captivity titled The Sovereignty and Goodness of God. While others perished, Mary Rowlandson survived captivity because she was accepting of the situation by surrendering and not challenging her captors.

    Read More

  • A Reflection Of My Writing Process

    897 Words  | 2 Pages

    One aspect of my writing process is my “one and done” mentality. Meaning I only do one simple draft of my essay based on the outline I made and turn it in. Most of this has to do with the pride I have in my work and the fact that I don 't like to think that I have made any mistakes. Another factor in this is my being too lazy to conceive another draft out of my first. Anne Lamott’s entertaining Shitty First Drafts stated that even the most accomplished and established of writers’ first drafts are not perfect and ready to be published, so consequently my first drafts definitely should not be. I loved the way she mentioned that you have to do a shitty first draft to get a good second draft and a good second draft to get a terrific third draft.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Anne Frank and Pride and Prejudice

    515 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Yes there is no doubt that paper is patient and as I don't intend to show this cardboard- covered notebook, bearing the proud name of “diary”, to anyone, unless I find a real friend, boy or girl, probably nobody cares. And now I come to the root of the matter, the reason for my starting a diary: it is that I have no such real friend.” Anne Frank divulges that she wants her diary to be a friend to her unlike her other friends, she feels isolated and alone sometimes, and wants her diary to be someone she can talk to openly and honestly about everything. So she calls her diary “Kitty” and addresses it as her friend. Anne was often emotional and insecure of herself. She felt as though she didn't have any true confidants, which led her to feel lonely and misunderstood. “I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as a great source of comfort and support.”

    Read More

  • Reflection On I Am Going To Fail

    1878 Words  | 4 Pages

    ‘I am going to fail’ was the very first thought that crept into my mind on that very first day of class. Before I stepped into the classroom on the first day, I felt pretty good about my writing. I had done previously well in English, and didn’t think this class would be much of a challenge. This all changed on the first day of school, when my professor talked about the level of reading and writing expected for this class. I remember thinking ‘I don’t read, why couldn’t I have been born someone who likes to read?!’ Since this moment on the very first day of class, I have grown immensely through hard work. In this essay, I will explain what I have learned over the course of this class about myself, and about writing.

    Read More

  • The Educated Imagination, by Northrop Frye, Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott, and The Republic, by Plato

    1192 Words  | 3 Pages

    Firstly, in Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird she uses several literary tools to craft her writing style and convey important information. Lamott’s tone is very likable and relatable. She allows for room discussion and does not give off an arrogant vibe that many published writers are prone to. She utilizes contemporary, conversational tone throughout her writing. As a result, the readers feel personally engaged, as if she is talking directly to them. Lamott even uses the word...

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Shitty First Drafts By Anne Lamott

    722 Words  | 2 Pages

    This article “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott help me understand that every good writer struggle to write their first draft and it might not be perfect at first but with a lot of dedication and effort everything could be done as expected. know that even the best published book started out with “Shitty First Drafts” help me to not be too critical to my first draft and having a little bit more confidences about my writing. I would apply this lesson whenever I have a writing assignment and I am get frustrated on how to start my essay, I would remember that all writers went through this stage of anxiety and not comfortable about their first draft. I would definitely recommend this article to a student that is starting their first composition

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Anne In Anne Of Green Gables

    1304 Words  | 3 Pages

    Orphans are often forced to mature faster than any other child. Often, they are exploited and used for their labor at a young age, ridding them of any potential childhood. Moreover, orphans lack a sense of belonging and have trouble relying on anybody other than themselves because the people they loved broke the only trust they knew, this leads to an isolation among them and a struggle with social development. Throughout the texts and films such as Anne of Green Gables, Orphan Train, Sidekicks, and The Outsiders we see specific examples of how orphans are expected to behave more maturely than children who grow up in a secure family setting.

    Read More

  • Ethos, Pathos and Nuclear Energy

    1278 Words  | 3 Pages

    To support her thesis she strongly focuses on creating her ethos or her credibility as a writer. Through her impressive use of ethos, she gives the trustwort...

    Read More

More about Anna Lamott First Draft Summary

Open Document