Lamott, Anne. Shitty First Drafts,in Language Matters: Readings for College Writers, 11th ed. pp. 189-194. | Acemyhomework Writers
Note: Excellent journals (check + or 1.5 points) will also consult Writing Matters and Guffey?s Business Communications on the topics discussed in this reading. See table of contents, index, and glossary in each. Journal #4: It is an adage that the art of writing is in rewriting, which is to say that our communication does not begin to achieve shape, focus, and clarity until it the material and ideas we are trying to express are carefully composed for maximum effect. Note: Only journals consisting of 2 pages of substantial (not padded or repetitious) responses to a selection of the questions raised below will be considered adequate and earn a check (1 point). 1. It is standard for writing assignments in college to begin with the instructor requesting a thesis statement and x-number of sources in a bibliography, to see that you are on the right track. However, Lamott and others tell us that we often don?t know what we are writing about (or trying to communicate) until we have something down on paper in rough-draft form. What then do you think is the use of composing a provisional thesis, one that is likely or almost certainly going to be changed or discarded in the process of revising a research project? Have you ever experienced a writing project (academic, business, or creative) where you started out thinking it would go in a certain direction, only to see it turn out completely differently? Do you think you would have been able to do without a provisional thesis in that case, or was it helpful in some way if only as a starter? Explain. 2. Lamott states that the notion writers compose ?fully formed passages? of finalized prose in ?just the fantasy of the uninitiated? (189). Have you ever written something golden and perfect in the first attempt, and has it survived to the final draft? Or is your first draft rather rough and inelegant, and you only find more precise wording in later revisions? Do you spend a long time composing sentences in your head, or do you begin writing and change things on the fly? What kind of writer are you, and how has this changed from high school and through college? Recall examples if possible. 3. ?The first draft is the child?s draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can [re-]shape it later? (p. 190). Assuming this is true, what kind of working process does a writer need to establish for herself? How much time you need to allow in order to bash out a rough draft, let it cool off, then revisit it and begin reshaping it? Has this opportunity presented itself in your experience during high school and college? How would you need to manage your time, ideally, to implement such a process in your writing? 4. Tight deadlines and page quotas often mitigate against revision, as we have discussed in class. Bashing something out at three a.m. to fulfill an assignment is not conducive to the kind of work flow Lamott idealizes. Often our first drafts, shitty or not, are the only ones that can be managed. Does Lamott offer any kinds of shortcuts, such as bullet points or outlining, that can get you closer to more polished writing, even in a rushed first (and only draft)? What steps can you take in prewriting (p. 193) that may help get closer to a more presentable draft in your own writing? 5. The Writing Suggestions state that ?it is essential to be conscious of what you do as a writer? (p. 193). Are there moments in your writing when you know you have run out of things to say, but keep on writing to fill a page quota? What might you do differently the next time that moment occurs?
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Lamott, Anne. Shitty First Drafts,in Language Matters: Readings for College Writers, 11th ed. pp. 189-194. | Acemyhomework Writers
