Anne Lamott's Short Essay 'Shitty First Drafts'

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In the brief essay “Shitty First Drafts,” writer Anne Lamott describes the general writing process by use of humor and relatability. Lamott spills her own troubles and woes in a way that assures the reader they are not alone should they feel like their first attempt at a piece of writing is not topnotch material. To back herself up, Lamott gives mass examples of nameless authors she knows and how each made a success out of their shared strife. The writer herself spills what it means to feel hopeless when writing a first draft. It appears her method to success is to surround herself with positive, like-minded individuals, as well as to not take oneself too seriously when painfully jotting down the first words of an essay. In my personal life, …show more content…

She exploits her own tribulation to ease the mind of any reader who may feel hopeless when attempting to slave by pen and paper. My favorite part about Lamott’s essay was how strongly I connected with it. As a (tawdry) writer myself, I used to feel like an outright failure during the first half of the piece of fiction I am quietly working on. By the midway point, I began combing through articles, looking for inspiration and assistance. Eventually, I was assured that the first draft is always everyone’s “worst” and it is simply the basic outline of a masterpiece. Imagine my comfort when I began reading Lamott’s article. “It was almost just typing, just making my fingers move. And the writing would be terrible.” This piece from the sixth paragraph is exactly how writing is most of the time. It is not easy and it really is much akin to just making one’s fingers move over a keyboard. She hit the nail on the head when she described how painstaking it was for her to squeeze out an initial draft of anything. Her passive tone throughout the majority of the selection helped the article flow together smoothly, and it enticed me to read until the very end. By then, I felt more than ready to buckle down and begin this

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