In “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott, she discusses how a writer’s first drafts are usually not perfect (para. 1). It is just a start-draft, just to get the writer going. The first step in this process is to write down anything you can think of at the moment or write out the details for your paper. Personally, I have always struggled with not just the first paragraph, but the first sentence. Like many students and writers, we all have difficulty starting with an interesting, attention-grabbing statement.
The Process of Writing People believe successful writers sit down and create papers within a blink of an eye. This is a perception. Anne Lamott had many conflicts as a writer. She revealed her problems with writing in her excerpt, “Shitty First Drafts”.
Many may believe that reading a book about religion would be challenging to accomplish for someone who is not religious. But those people have never read Anne Lamott’s, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith. If one were to ask non-religious college students to read a book by a random author about spirituality and “Finding God” through conversion, they would most likely roll their eyes and bear through it. In Lamott’s series of essays, one does not have to “suffer through the readings” because her writing style is one of a kind. She has strategically chosen every word because she is aware of how important her spiritual experiences are to so many people, religious or not.
From the very beginning of Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg the theme of the novel becomes very apparent, freedom. She uses a variety of chapter length and themes in order to get her theme across. From the introduction of the book Goldberg begins to tell of her experiences of having to conform to the expectations of her teachers when writing. She says, “I wrote compositions with clear sentences that were dull and boring. Nowhere was there an original thought or genuine feeling.”
Science has proven that reading can provoke positive changes in us as human beings. Annie Murphy Paul is the author of the article ‘Your Brain on Fiction’ published on March 17, 2012. Annie explains how researchers have discovered that reading can initiate different parts of the brain, this is the reason why sometimes literature can make the reader so engaged and attached to a piece of writing. Research also explains how reading has the ability to produce activity in our brain’s motor cortex. Finally, Annie explains how reading fictional pieces can change how you interact with other individuals.
The article by Donald Murray entitled, “The Maker’s Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscripts” provides readers a better understanding of the writing process and argues that writers learn to write, by writing and rewriting. Murray also contends that writers must learn to be their own best enemy. Well, I believe I have this trait covered! I will confess, that I purposely saved this course for last, due to the number of years between my last structured learning experience and returning to school to complete a BSN degree.
In Stephen King's memoir, On Writing, he discusses many of the fundamentals of writing he believes are crucial to great writers. In the part of the book titled, "The Craft of Writing," King reveals some of his many rules which have led to great success in the writing field. Out of the many points he explained, I noticed three rules that could benefit my writing the most as an AP Language and Composition student. Though simple, these rules opened my eyes to how I could advance my writing skills by following a few easy fixes. King trusted in writing dialogue truthfully, using the most appropriate vocabulary, and his process of revising.
In the article “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lemott she discusses how every writer has difficulty putting their ideas on paper because writing should be seen as a process that even the best and famous writers follow. She also talks about how even the best writers don’t just come with ideas and just begin writing on paper and make it as their final draft. Lemott also points out the importance of being able to just write down every thought into the first draft regardless of the structure of the draft and how it makes it easier to start the second draft. After writing the second draft it makes the final draft a review of punctuation and grammar corrections. As a food reviewer she struggled putting her ideas together because she would start doubting
Writing a first draft is like giving a speech for the first time. The first time you write a piece of work or give a speech there always is lots of error. The part of “Shitty First Drafts” that I liked the most was when Lamott states that the first
Anne Lamott 's essay, “Shitty First Drafts” explains to its readers that all writers, even the best, can have “shitty first drafts.” The essay presents the proper writing process from the first draft to the final piece of work. Her essay is intended to encourage writers who are in need of direction when it comes to writing and to teach inexperienced writers ways to become more successful in writing. Anne Lamott uses her personal experiences to build credibility, figurative language to engage the reader and provides the reader with logical steps for the writing process. To build credibility on her processes success, Lamott uses her own personal experiences.
Kurt Vonnegut author of slaughterhouse five, in the 1985 essay “How to Write with Style,” makes observations and recommendations for infusing personality into your work. It begins by defining "elements of style" as the unique personal qualities that you show to the reader. Vonnegut then goes on to make an argument on why we should improve our writing style. To which he says it's out of sign of respect for the reader. Basically not putting effort into your writing will make the reader will think that you care little of them.
I came into my first college writing class feeling prepared thanks to you and your investment in me as a student in your AP Lang class. I developed as a writer more than I ever had in your class, and it definitely helped me in my college writing class this semester. I already knew how important it was to revise and continuously critically think about my writing, as well as the importance of multiple drafts and peer review. My English 110 class this semester was very similar to yours because we also did multiple drafts where I could revise my paper as many times as needed. The big difference was that the focus was on different genres and how to appeal to those, which was something new compared to my high school English courses.
As I was reading Melissa Duffy’s “Inspiration, and Craig Vetter’s “Bonehead Writing,” I found myself connecting with Vetter’s paper more than Duffy’s. I found that the presentation in “Bonehead Writing” to capture my attention, and that Vetter’s feelings about writing was similar to my opinion on writing. Through his wording and humor, I think Craig Vetter wrote the best essay. I find that the wording and presentation of an article or essay influences my opinion of the writer, and it affects how I receive the idea they are trying to present to me. Craig Vetter uses a blunt approach to convey his idea that writing is nearly impossible to teach, and describes writing as “A blood sport, a walk in the garden of agony every time out.”
I continued to type; I added in unnecessary symbolism and metaphors to give the illusion of a well-written paper. I was making good time, I had almost a page and a half done already, but suddenly I stopped writing. “ What next?” I had a case of writer's block, and it was bad.
“A Work of Artifice,” by the American poet Marge Piercy, is a short poem, which upon closer inspection, reveals a world of meaning. The poem recounts how the bonsai tree, with the potential to grow to a height of 80 feet, is instead meticulously and diligently pruned so that it appears miniature and little more than nine feet tall. Piercy uses the bonsai tree to symbolize the average American woman. Written in 1936, it would make sense that this poem be in reference to the American woman, at a time when women were still working to assimilate into the American workforce and into their new role in the country. The poem bemoans the ways in which the potential of people in general, but of women in particular, can be hindered by their superiors.
