Anne Lamott’s Shitty First Drafts was very illuminating on how professional writers still use the same draft process as everyone else. It does not matter who you are or how many masterpieces you have written, when you start a new work you will also write a shitty first draft. I used to think it was a bad thing to write a “shitty first draft”. In my mind, if I had to write a draft at all that meant I was a terrible writer. I used to write all of my papers in one sitting and after I completed them, I would just submit whatever mess I just wrote. After a while I realized that probably was not the best way to write papers, but I still believed that a good writer would never have to write first drafts. Lamott’s piece is really encouraging to me. Writing a terrible first draft is all part of the process and you do not have to be ashamed of what you wrote because the draft is just there to help you. No one else will read it, unless you want some advice from other people.
The first draft is used to open the flood gates of thought. I have always found that the hardest part of writing anything is the opening. I go back and forth on how to start that first paragraph, or even just the first sentence, more times than I like to admit. I even have some trouble figuring out how to start these blog post! The first step is always the hardest and very rarely is it going to come out pretty. It’s like taking your first steps when you are a baby. First you can barely even stand up, but eventually you get the hang of it. Fast forward to the present and walking is no problem. Writing a shitty first draft is normal and is nothing to be ashamed of. Submitting that draft as your FINAL draft, now that’s something to be ashamed of.