Journal 3: Drafting and Responding

I have always had that thought that Lamott describes in the beginning of her essay, “Shitty First Drafts,” that good writers were blessed 24/7 and could write a master piece in one try. I of course learned my lesson, but this was before I read this essay. I realized that to get started on a piece of writing, which usually was a poem of some sort, I would just have to write down whatever popped out of my head. Just a stream of consciousness, no order to it. This is when I realized that I found great bits and pieces within what I wrote, and it funneled me along a path to writing a great poem. When I read Lamott’s essay, I smiled because it was the first time I ever read my personal advice so succinctly. It also made me feel great because she was a great writer and had the same conclusion as I did. I have written many shitty drafts in my day, but it actually is what attracted me to writing essays. I would always dread writing essays. This was until I realized the first draft could be what I wanted, and no one would, and could say anything at all to me! It was exciting. The harder part for me is after the shit draft, putting it into a cohesive, and concise piece that I would like to show off.

In Straub’s essay, I appreciated what she said about writing and really responding to others in a productive way. I feel that I like to respond to other papers. I grew up doing that in a group called “writing workshop.” Every week someone would bring in something and others would read it and then discuss it. My first workshop was in 5th grade, and so I feel as though I have had lots of practice. There is nothing worse than getting feedback such as, “great start!”… and that’s it. I learned early on that critique is not bad! It is a great thing. Where people of your same talent levels and are in the same class can be very helpful to gauge where you are in relation to others. I will attempt to not nitpick their grammar but mostly go along with the story line. If I think that they are following the prompt for the essay. If I think that they are summarizing too much instead of bringing in insight.

There is nothing good by saying negative things that don’t really bring the person to move forward in their writing skills. It is always good to have a mixture of good tips and praises; finding the good and the bad.