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More handpicked essays just for you.
Shitty First Drafts,” by Anne Lamott
Shitty First Drafts,” by Anne Lamott
Shitty First Drafts,” by Anne Lamott
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Recommended: Shitty First Drafts,” by Anne Lamott
Anne Lamott comes across as a very smooth and less technical writer, as she starts the prelude to her "Shitty First Drafts". Her humorous tone in the first paragraph really emphasizes the mood for the rest of the article. In the first paragraph she begins to discuss the stereotypes that people may assume to be true about writers. She then goes into the idea that just because a writer may have novels on a best seller list, or is making a ton of money, doesn't mean that she doesn't struggle when composing a first draft. Towards the conclusion of her first paragraph, readers tend to see the easier going, and humor sensed Lamott. She makes a silly statement when she writes, "All right, one of them does, but we do not like her very much."(par. …show more content…
A particular catching part of her paper is her second main point in writing Shitty First Drafts. Lamott discusses how being vulnerable like a child will allow you to pour out everything that your meaning to express in your paper. Children have no filter; they usually say whatever is on their mind and what they are exactly feeling inside. Towards the end of the paragraph Lamott makes an extremely smart point, if you weren't rambling on and pouring everything out on the paper, you may never find what you are truly looking for.
In Lamotts third point she describes applying technique of writing to her actual life. She starts off by telling readers of her position in writing food reviews for the California Magazine. Next, she begins to explain the steps she took in writing one of these reviews. First she would go to one of the restaurants, not only once but a numerous amount of times. Along with her she would bring a team of opinionated friends who would help her to freely express what she was trying to purpose to readers. After a few days she would sit down to her desk and begin her journey in trying to write her first draft. Through this process she would stumble and struggle with finding the perfect way to compose her review. Lamotts last thought in this paragraph is one that should help but writers to ease, no matter how "shitty"
Anne Orthwood’s Bastard by John Ruston Pagan tells the story of what Anne’s life was like living in early colonial America. The book depicts a very accurate description of what life would be like for any settler in the Americas. Settlers were enticed to move over the colonies by the Virginia company with the idea that they could achieve a life full of opportunities. There they would work as Indentured servants and serve out their term. Throughout the book there are many cases involving the sale of Indentured Servants and also the in Anne’s case of her pregnancy through her illicit relationship. These legal cases favored those with higher social status and higher economical statuses. Early American society was built with economic interests
She uses adequate vocabulary to establish her ability to write and communicate effectively. She even mentions that she is careful about each word she expresses because she doesn’t want to support the professor’s claims of her inadequacy in word choice. She uses strong, emotional words like “debilitating and painful”, and “bitter”, “doubt”, and “criticized” to allow the audience to feel empathy. She transitions between her ideas with short simple sentences to keep the audience focused on the important items. “Today is different”, begins the specific account of her professor’s words on her paper. “In reality, I am tired and exhausted” is a simple sentence with powerful, honest words. This sentence transitions into her ideas of what should be done to stop stereotyping. Lastly, she uses the pronoun “I” throughout the paper, but shifts to the pronoun “we” in the final sentences of the article. This shift targets the audience and challenges the reader to be responsible for making changes in academia and stereotyping. The simple statements, “We all have work to do. Academia needs work” are strong and
John Ruston Pagan’s book, Anne Orthwood’s Bastard, is split into sections describing the different components of sex and law in early Virginia. Pagan describes these components through the story of Anne Orthwood, John Kendall, and their bastard son, Jasper. Anne Orthwood was born an illegitimate child. There was much shame and disgrace for illegitimate children. Although illegitimacy made Anne’s life especially hard, she also faced the same pressures as other members of her generation. Her generation was dealing with shortages of land and labor; increasing prices, rent, and unemployment rates; and declining wages. These struggles caused many people to emigrate from Britain to the Americas.
“Once people actually write to others, they do things to them, they act on them. Perhaps you have not thought of your own writing as doing something, as acting on readers” (Schmidt and Kopple). She states another time when she says, “I know some very great writers, writers you love who write beautifully and have made a great deal of money, not one them sits down routinely feeling widely enthusiastic and confident. Not one of them writes elegant first drafts” (Lamott). This is yet another example of Lamott going back to the subject that first drafts are supposed to be bad. There is one example of bad rhetoric and it is when she says, “Not one of them writes elegant drafts. All right, one of them does, but we do not like her very much. We do not think that she has a rich inner life or that God likes her or can even stand her.” At first she says that everyone writes bad first drafts and then she brings up how one person doesn’t need to, she went against what she just said and that might cause confusion for the reader. Lamott would tell this purpose to this audience because she wants them to improve in their writing. Anne Lamott wants to achieve the success of helping everyone excel in his or her writing. She wants to inform writers that all first drafts should be bad. She does not want them to feel down on themselves, and to continue writing. This purpose is important because this
Pathos is the appeal to an audience’s emotion. Aside from the other two appeals that I have outlined in this essay, pathos is by far the most recognizable appeal in Lamott’s article. The humorous tone of the article is very easily recognized and frankly, it is hard not to laugh at some of Lamott’s uncalled-for sarcastic remarks (whether it be in your head or out loud). For example, when writing about how every writer she knows never writes an elegant first draft, she continues, “All right, one of them does, but we do not like her very much. We do not think that she has a rich inner life or that God likes her or can even stand her” (1). By making such presumptuous claims about this person, some audiences might find this type of language comical or entertaining, which in turn makes them want to believe Lamott and continue reading. In a way this helps Lamott seem credible to some readers, in which case she has created a successful argument. On the other hand, some readers might find this kind of language unprofessional and inappropriate. Because much of the article deals with language that is full of humor and sarcasm, it would make sense to say that Lamott has directed this article towards an audience who is looking for something more entertaining than a typical statistic-filled essay that one might consider mainstream in this field. Whether it be entertaining or absurd, Lamott most definitely uses the appeal of pathos in her
In the article “Shitty First Drafts,” By Anne Lamott, she lets out the long held secret to good writing, there is never a good first run on a paper. It 's always starts off as a torrent of ideas unfiltered, ideas completely let loose. It is the draft that is never shown to anyone, the draft that holds all the dirty little thought that you have on a topic, and all the information that you may use later on. It does not matter if the draft is ten pages long filled with unreadable text in the end the good stuff you use could only fill up three pages.
Andi Anderson (Kate Hudson) is a beautiful, young, and successful writer who maintains a “How-To” section in “Composure” magazine. Her dream is to “write about things that matter, like politics and the environment, and foreign affairs- things I’m interested in.” (How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, time stamp 02:00). She knows that the only way she will eventually be able to write about subjects she’s passionate about is to be successful in writing her superficial “How-To” section in the magazine.
This article “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott help me understand that every good writer struggle to write their first draft and it might not be perfect at first but with a lot of dedication and effort everything could be done as expected. know that even the best published book started out with “Shitty First Drafts” help me to not be too critical to my first draft and having a little bit more confidences about my writing. I would apply this lesson whenever I have a writing assignment and I am get frustrated on how to start my essay, I would remember that all writers went through this stage of anxiety and not comfortable about their first draft. I would definitely recommend this article to a student that is starting their first composition
She specifically mentions in the article that, “Each experience of writing was like standing naked and revealing my imperfection, my “otherness.” And each new assignment was another chance to make myself over in language, reshape myself, make myself “better” in my rapidly changing image of a student in a college composition class.” This reminds me of a new stage of my life making new friends and going down a new path. In high school I had one absolute best friend the rest of the student body was hard to connect with. College gives me a new chance of finding my place and connecting with students going down the same career path. Like Barbara Mellix, I too am go through a language change in college and in my work place. I am doing what I need to succeed and not maintain the same language just to be accepted by my own
As every well-read person knows, the background in which you grow up plays a huge role in how you write and your opinions. Fuller grew up with a very strict education, learning multiple classic languages before she was eight years old. Fern grew up with writers all throughout her family and had a traditional education and saw first hand the iniquities of what hard-working had to contend with. Through close analysis of their work, a reader can quickly find the connections between their tone, style, content, and purpose and their history of their lives and their educational upbringing.
Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. Literature and the Writing Process. Elizabeth McMahan, Susan X. Day, and Robert Funk. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice, 2002.
Many authors have a reason for their writing style. Sometimes their style is due to certain events that have happened throughout their life, where they write to try to prevent the same thing happening or others. The things writers go through and write about may not be “appropriate” according to school boards and “concerned” parents; but they teach lessons and in some occasions, help save lives. Ellen Hopkins, a well-known young adult author, has written many books that have changed the readers paths in life; seeing what the real possibilities are. Many people disagree with her writing style, but she writes these novel so people can avoid and see the consequences of bad decisions.
The idea of writing at any school level or in life is seen more as a grueling task than enjoyable experience. In the novel, Bird by Bird, the author Anne Lamott is speaking to a generation of writers, who may be struggling with the process. The content is rich with stories to help the writer analyze his or her own life to add it to their writing style, a concept that may be hard for some people. Bird by Bird is an effective book, because Lamott includes not only writing tips, but a sense of humor along with life advice.
The third decade of the twentieth century brought on more explicit writers than ever before, but none were as expressive as Anne Sexton. Her style of writing, her works, the image that she created, and the crazy life that she led are all prime examples of this. Known as one of the most “confessional” poets of her time, Anne Sexton was also one of the most criticized. She was known to use images of incest, adultery, and madness to reveal the depths of her deeply troubled life, which often brought on much controversy. Despite this, Anne went on to win many awards and go down as one of the best poets of all time.
Anne Bradstreet starts off her letter with a short poem that presents insight as to what to expect in “To My Dear Children” when she says “here you may find/ what was in your living mother’s mind” (Bradstreet 161). This is the first sign she gives that her letter contains not just a mere retelling of adolescent events, but an introspection of her own life. She writes this at a very turbulent point in history for a devout Puritan. She lived during the migration of Puritans to America to escape the persecution of the Catholic Church and also through the fragmentation of the Puritans into different sects when people began to question the Puritan faith.