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We live within a world of writing. Despite the increased usage of the iPhone, apps, and other electronics, we still see and hear writing everywhere, whether we realize it or not. Books, magazines, newspapers, blogs, theater, movies; they are all a product of writing. As consumers and readers, we are so used to seeing the result, that we forget just how much time, effort and energy it truly takes to create and mold the material itself. Maybe some of us don’t care. Others might be too busy with their own lives to notice. Some people probably think that writers are just these perfect people who have endless energy and crank out material like a machine.
The truth is, writers are just normal, everyday people like the rest of us. This is explained in greater detail in Anne Lamott’s Shitty First Drafts, an excerpt from her book, Bird by Bird: Some Instruction on Writing and Life (1995). Anne’s writing style differs in that she uses a combination of humor, experience, and knowledge to convey her thoughts in an articulate manner while still staying somewhat informal at the same time. It seems that she wants to maintain a sense of relatability to her readers. She doesn’t waste any time getting her point across about how to become a good writer; she says that all good writers need to start with what she calls shitty first drafts.
The Writing Process
Anne starts by explaining that even the best of writers, herself included, don’t just wake up each day feeling supremely confident and enthusiastic about writing (Lamott, 1995). She describes it as a combination of torture, a test of wills, and the feeling that a writer never truly feels like they know what they are doing. She discusses about how many writers, including herself, feel panic and fear, and that ultimately you must start somewhere. Anne highlights what the true issue is that every writer has no matter how experienced they are: we all feel vulnerable when sharing something from within, while simultaneously constrained by our own negative voices. Her remedy to this is to start with what she calls a “child’s draft” in that the writer just lets themselves go and write whatever they want to without any restrictions or worries. They do this knowing that nobody else will ever see it.
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Lamott further described the process of when she worked as a food columnist for a magazine. Despite doing the reviews for years, she would still feel panic and fear each time she had to write a new review. Once she allowed herself to write a long, horrible first draft, aka the shitty first draft, then she was able get all her thoughts, ideas and anything else in her head out onto the paper. She would leave it alone until the next day, when she would edit and revise the first draft into a second draft, and then finalize into a final draft. Even though she always ended up with a successful piece of writing, she would repeat the process all over again the next month when she needed to do another review. The good thing is that she also learned how to trust the process and make it work for her.
A Diamond in The Rough
So now as a writer, you have your first draft aka shitty first draft. Anne goes on to explain how to move forward despite the ever-present fear of being a failure. She encourages the writer to not only edit and revise the shitty first draft, but look for that diamond in the rough so to speak. There may be something you wrote in there that is hidden but waiting to be found and used. Maybe once you read your shitty first draft again it will spark a new wave of ideas that you add to your existing work. Anne talks about quieting the voices in her head when she sits down to work on her first draft. She suggests a meditation-like exercise that was told to her by a hypnotist. Sit quietly with eyes closed, and then isolate one of the voices, and imagine one of the voices speaking is a mouse.
Pick up the mouse by its tail and put it in a mason jar. Put the lid on and watch the mouse (or mice) jibber-jabbering at you. Imagine there is a volume control button and turn it up for a moment. Listen to all the noise, then turn the volume down completely and go back to working on the first draft. Anne goes on to say that one of her writer friends suggests that she should open the jar and shoot them all in the head, but she just thinks he’s a little angry. (Lamott, 1995). She ends her piece by using humor and sarcasm to leave the reader thinking.
Good Writing 101
So, if we review everything that Anne Lamott discusses in her excerpt; she uses anecdotes, humor, sarcasm, and a personal tone to explain the importance of a shitty first draft. There is a dichotomy between how she was informal but at the same time she made references to literary figures that most people probably don’t know about or think of often. When she was describing the voices, she mentioned hearing an “Emaciated German male who writes these Orwellian memos detailing your thought crimes.” (Lamott, 1995, pp. 449-450). Then she goes on to say, “And there’s William Burroughs, dozing off or shooting up because he finds you as bold and articulate as a houseplant.” (Lamott, 1995, p. 450).
Anne tells us that fear and rejection are the biggest obstacles writers face, each time. There is no magic formula, or straight path to writing utopia. She illustrates that to create something, in this case writing, you must allow yourself the opportunity to start the process. We become our own worst enemy and stifle our own creativity and ability to write good stuff. We listen to the negative voices, or we get so caught up in the mechanics of writing that we stop before we start.
She demonstrates this not just by describing her experiences as a writer and how she came to use the shitty first draft, but also when she discusses her feelings about a fellow writer who apparently writes “elegant” first drafts. She states that “We do not like her very much. We do not think she has a rich inner life or that God likes her or can even stand her.” (Lamott, 1995, p. 447). Some could interpret this as a somewhat negative statement wrapped in sarcasm and humor that has an undertone of jealousy. Ultimately, whether she realizes it or not, she is showing the reader her own insecurity while explaining that it’s ok to feel that way, that all writers do. She gives the reader (and potential writer) a sense of empowerment in knowing that they are not alone in the fact that it takes time and effort to create writing that makes an impact.
Let Go and Start Writing
Writing reflects imagination. Good writing is when you combine that spark of creativity with time, effort and energy. Giving yourself the freedom to ignore the voices of negativity, while reaching into your mind and let your inner thoughts flow like a child who is playing out in the rain. This is what writing a shitty first draft does for you, the writer. This is the place for you to begin your story.
References
- Lamott, A. (1995). Shitty First Drafts. In J. Neuleib, K. Shine-Cain, & S. Ruffus (Eds.), A Practical Guidebook for English Composition and Technical Writing (pp.446-450). Boston, MA: Pearson Learning Solutions.
