Mya Hankes
English 110 C-1
Professor Brod
October 12th
Writing is all about the process. It is about breaking things down, analysing, using your voice, and creative style. When you write a first draft, you don’t consider these pillars of the process. You usually focus more on getting it done. Most students will sit down and do their rough and final drafts within a day. The issue behind this is not providing ourselves enough time to have a writing process. In my personal experience, I have a horrible tendency to procrastinate with my writing and wait until I have to cram to finish it. Although I do believe this can be my best work sometimes, I subconsciously know the process is a far better result. In my first drafts, I try to focus on what my thesis is going to be and allow my body paragraphs to be loose. This usually causes me to get feedback about making my paragraphs stronger and with more detail. I see my first drafts as more a laundry list of my thoughts rather than a compiled piece. Lamott describes her first drafts similarly. Her comment on how no one sees the first draft is something I didn’t really think about. For us, we read each other’s first drafts usually in a peer review. Lamott quite literally has no one reading or editing her work before it goes out. This addition furthered my agreement with Lamott that the first draft can be shitty and terrible and it should be. I think the final product is good if you put the utmost effort into the process. Good writing is when a piece makes you want to keep reading.
