Anne Lamott is a very well-known and successful writer, who has published many popular writings throughout her career. She is commonly known for her self-deprecating humor on topics that are usually not talked about as much, such as spirituality, depression, and alcoholism.
In Shitty First Drafts Lamott writes about the process that many writers struggle with, regardless of skill or experience: getting started. She explains that writers need to stop worrying about how good their first drafts are because it’s called a “first draft” for a reason. Towards the end of the writing, Lamott talks about the “voices” in her head when she’s writing, providing an unusual yet interesting take on writing a rough first draft.
Every writer has struggled with starting a writing or first draft. There’s just so much to write about. Where do you start? What if it’s not good enough? The answer: It does not matter. Just start putting words down on the paper. Anne Lamott emphasizes this in her writing when she says, “…I’d start writing without reining myself in. It was almost just typing, just making my fingers move. And the writing would be terrible” (Lamott 529). This resonates within me because I always get hung up on the small details. I believe that everyone should ignore being perfect and just write something whenever they get stuck. In fact, you might as well just write down everything related to the topic that comes to mind. After edits and revisions, no one will ever know what the quality of the first draft was. However, you shouldn’t write every single random thing you think of, because that can lead to distractions and messy writing in my opinion. This will end up making it more confusing to sort through when revising. Lamott also brings up voices that talk to her when she writes. She explains, “What I’ve learned to do when I sit down to work on a shitty first draft is to quiet the voices in my head. First there’s the vinegar-lipped Reader Lady, who says primly, ‘Well, that’s not very interesting, is it?’” (Lamott 530). I like how Lamott uses unconventional examples to get her point across. However, it does seem a little odd when she dives further into these voices. This is especially present when she talks about putting the loud voices and people in jar and watching them claw at the glass like mice. In my opinion, this may scare or steer some readers away from her writings because most people have most likely not been exposed to writings like Lamott’s. On the other hand, it is a very effective way to convey ideas if the reader actively engages in the writing.
Questions and Conclusions:
One major question that I have after reading Anne Lamott’s Shitty First Drafts is: Is there a point in which a first draft can be too messy? While it is good to just let your ideas flow freely, if you write every possible idea down you might get confused. With too many ideas, it will be hard to sort through the bad ones to polish up the writing. Also, I think that it is a little over the top when Lamott talks about trapping voices in a jar as mice and then shooting them in the head. However, it displays an interesting way to emphasize that first drafts can be rough.
Works Cited
Lamott, Anne. Bird By Bird. Pantheon Books, 1994.