Shitty First Drafts

Anne Lamott’s humorous description of the arduous process of writing a first draft is one that I believe all writers can find relatable. It can seem as though you are the only writer who cannot plop down in front of a computer, notebook, or typewriter (if you’re that type) and reach into the ether to pull out hundreds of words that magically piece together to form an elite first-class piece of work. It can certainly feel like there is a learning curve you have not quite grasped. However, this is often not the case. Lamott expertly expresses this when she writes, “Very few writers really know what they are doing until they’ve done it.” We often imagine great writers like Hemingway and Salinger crafting their revered novels in one stroke - writing word after word and never stopping to take their pen off the page, let alone taking even a moment to erase or scratch out a mistake. This, however, is because as readers we only see the final result. We see the glorious, magnificent, and revolutionary piece of work that their hours of toil have finally yielded. The readers never saw the shitty first draft, but that does not mean it did not exist. Lamott describes the first draft as an outpour of all the thoughts, feelings, ideas, and whatever else comes to the mind of the writer. This is an incredibly effective method of writing because the writer is able to go back and sift through a plethora of information they have laid out for themselves, and edit accordingly. An English teacher of mine used to advise that after pouring all the information possible into the first draft, a writer should become a sort of hoarder. She would advise that when editing, move the deleted sentences to another document and store them for possible use or inspiration later. When writing my term paper at the end of the year, this proved to be enormously helpful. On the cusp of the 6,000-word requirement, I was able to draw from a small sentence I had previously discarded (but saved) and piece together another two paragraphs. Every piece of work has had a shitty first draft. Whether it be one that was written and tangible, or whether it be a scrambled mush of thoughts and ideas in the mind of the writer. The funny thing is, after all the toiling about writing it, it usually turns out okay. That being said, the whole process still always seems to start over again. The stress, sweat, and fear of creating something from nothing is always present at the beginning of a project, but just literally write all the shit that comes to mind, and a writer can turn their shitty first draft into a tremendous final draft.