Week 3 Reading Response

Reading Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts,” was a big eye opener for me. Her essay made the whole writing process seem a lot easier than expected. I can personally relate to all her fears and anxieties before writing something new. It’s actually encouraging to know that professional writers go through the same ordeal that I go through when writing my own essay.

The style in which Anne Lamott wrote this essay seemed very elementary making it easy to read. I especially enjoyed how she broke up the paragraphs perfectly which made it enjoyable to read. More importantly, I didn’t lose interest while reading it. She also made a lot of great points that gave me real hope for the remainder of this English class.

It goes to prove that no matter how long someone has been writing, they’ll always have to get through those first few “shitty” papers in order to have a great final draft. I really liked how she stated that there maybe something great in the mess of the rough draft pages. I do believe that if a writer can take the time to jot down what comes to mind, they’ll be sure to find one thing they can run with regardless of how absurd it may seem first time around.

This piece gave me a great sense of relief and I’m glad I read it. The lesson I took from this essay, is that it’s okay to have a first draft that isn’t perfect. That is the whole point in drafting first, so that one can capture their thoughts and ideas which will eventually lead to the final masterpiece.