Thoughts on "Shitty First Drafts"

In a selection from her novel Birds by Birds entitled "Shitty First Drafts," Anne Lamott shares an anecdote about how her struggle with beginning writing assignments for her job, specifically a restaurant review. She explains the panic that enveloped her when she sat down to formulate drafts of her commentaries, thinking that she "would not be able to get the magic to work this time," and calling herself a failure. Ultimately, however, Lamott had been able to overcome her fear of failure. After taking time to walk away from her work and calm down, she revisited her computer and began to write without censoring her thoughts. Instead of debating whether or not her sentences were worthy of being included in her final review, she simply focused on getting her ideas out on a tangible piece of paper. Not worrying about judgment, Lamott was able to successfully formulate a (very rough) draft of her review and begin her writing process.

Reading this except made me relieved; I often find difficulty with beginning writing assignments for the same reason Lamott did: the fear of judgment and not creating decent writing right away causes me to worry about formulating my ideas on paper. I feel that I can take away a big lesson from this selection. If I try to focus simply on getting my ideas written down, and not on the quality of my work, I will not only be able to develop a start, albeit how poorly written, but I will also be able to express my thoughts more clearly than if I try to hard to make my wiring sound professional.

I have time to attempt to integrate this lesson into my writing habits, and intend to practice it in my writing this semester. If I can focus on getting my ideas down first, and look towards proper grammar and formatting later, I feel that I can successfully expand my current writing habits.