"Shitty First Drafts," the Writing Process, and the Coe Writing Center

“Shitty First Drafts”, the Writing Process, and the Coe Writing Center

Sienna Stucke

Throughout high school, I considered myself to be a pretty good writer; I got good grades on almost all of my essays and writing assignments and I knew how to organize my ideas. It was never something I really struggled with.

This changed when I took a Composition course though a University of Minnesota program. Prior to that class I was able to write a paper by brainstorming, outlining, and then just writing- it had worked for all of my previous papers. I figured it would be the same with this class… I was very wrong. 

In my first assignment I really struggled with starting- I stared at my computer screen for hours feeling pressured to have a perfect opening line as my first sentence of my rough draft. My other problem was that after peer-editing and conferencing, I only made simple changes that were “small stones.” After writing my rough drafts I usually would just comb through for spelling and grammar problems and it would be good enough for me (and my previous teachers). 

When I got a bad grade on that paper it really forced me to take a step back and be very critical of myself; Where did I go so wrong?

link to Lamott's piece

After our first assignment my class was assigned to read Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. This was the first step in uncovering how I could improve my writing. 

One part that really caught my attention was a chapter on the very beginning of the writing process, what she referred to as “shitty first drafts.” Anne Lamott wrote about the importance of starting, the act of just putting words on a page. I knew I struggled with this in my first paper. It was eye-opening because Lamott was very honest and blunt about her writing process and her struggles. She argued that to start writing you just need to put words on a page- even if it is terrible nonsense. The only way to start is to start because if people could write perfectly the first time around, there would be no such things as rough drafts. She went on to say that “Now, practically even better news than that of short assignments is the idea of shitty first drafts. All good writers write them. This is how they end up with good second drafts and terrific third drafts” (Lamott 1994). 

From this I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to get away with writing a draft and just editing to polish it up and turn it in. I was really going to have to challenge myself, put more time and effort into these drafts, and even more time and effort into the revising process. I decided that I was not going to be able to cheat the writing process any longer. 

What I learned from Anne Lamott that has improved my writing:

1.     Write down anything, anything that comes to mind when starting a writing project

2.     Accept the fact that it won’t be pretty the first time (or maybe the second time)

3.     Accept that it will take multiple drafts to get it right

4.     Revising is much more than spelling and grammar, it is the “big rocks” too

5.     The more effort you put in, the more satisfying the final draft is

How does this connect to the CWC?

First and foremost, I think it is important to remember that the purpose of the writing center is to make better writers. Part of making better writers is fine tuning the writing process, we have to remind them that it takes patience in order to get a final draft that they can be proud of. They also need to accept that it won’t be perfect in the rough draft and that it takes time. 

What can we do as consultants?

Specifically, we can encourage clients to sign up for multiple meetings instead of one long one in order to keep looking at it with fresh eyes and let the writing process work out the kinks of the paper. For example, we may have a brainstorming session, an outlining session, and conferences for each new draft until they are content with their work. We also need to keep in mind that it takes vulnerability to share their work with us (especially if it is an early draft) and we need to respect that by gaining their trust at the beginning of each conference. Maybe if the clients were anything like how I was, they may not even understand the revision process and everything that it entails. This means that we can share the words of writers like Anne Lamott and tell our clients that it takes multiple drafts for any piece of writing to look better. Ultimately, we must remind them that as ugly as they may be, shitty first drafts are a necessary evil in the writing process.