I was reading everyone's comments on the article and the relations made towards the writing process described. What Lamott wrote is totally agreeable with student writers, including myself, when it comes to how we feel when we write and while we write. For this discussion post, I want everyone to talk about a specific time when you have written that relates to the reading. Choose a paragraph or two, an idea, direct quote and compare and/or contrast it to your own writing experience. Everyone should respond to another peer's post to get the conversation going on the topic.
One of my favorite sentences is the last line on page 22 - "The first draft is the child's draft..." My writing, even at the graduate level, all starts out as a child's draft. I have to get my ideas down first and then mold them the way I think works best to work the prompt. It has become a habit for me, to just write down my ideas without any particular order or meaning. Once I see it on paper, I can see everything and move things around. It is better for me to see something concrete than balance abstract ideas in my head without trying to forget any of them. How about you all?
What concepts did you get out of the reading? Pretty much everyone who wrote said the reading can be related to, but what do you now understand about the writing process that can help you with your future writing careers?
Responses should be posted before Sunday at midnight.
What i understood from the article that can help me in my future essays is that is always better to begin with a draft and not just begin to write and make that first try your only try
ReplyDeleteI agree with you because it's better to start a first draft and have your ideas written down then to start writing you final draft.
DeleteExactly, it is always better to write our ideas(Rough Draft)
Deletei agree with her because is a better way to write our ideas on a essay
DeleteOne thing that could help me out in this article is; don't do only open draft and for it to be your final. Do as many as u need for it to come out right. Also don't do it at the last moment.
ReplyDeleteFrom this article I understand that the first draft it is only to put our ideas down on paper, it is important to write as many drafts as we need to keep improving until we get the one that we considered right.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you because putting your ideas down on paper helps you create a final draft.
DeleteWow yea. The putting your ideas down does help a lot. I wonder why i never used that strategy in my high school years. But I completely agree with you.
DeleteThis Article explains that your idea needs to be put on paper as a rough draft so you can improve it along the way. The first draft should be viewed as a practice or as an outline. Your paper will only get better if you keep working on it, first drafts are only the first step to creating a final. I agree with you on putting your ideas down on your first draft instead of juggling them all at once, its way to sloppy. after i see what direction I'm headed towards on my paper, thats when i can edit and make changes. I definitely think being diligent on my papers will help me in the future.
ReplyDeleteOn page 25, " Almost good writing begins with terrible first drafts", by reading this I understood that you can write horrible first drafts to help you create good writing. From this article, I understood that a first draft is just to put your ideas down. First drafts are meant to write and express ideas in a way you want them to be.
ReplyDeleteOne important thing that I learned in this article is that we need to write down all our ideas and thoughts in paper to create a draft.One draft doesnt has to be perfect because we are going to write many drafts to improve and make changes for the first one.This is a great advise for me because I never write many drafts and for this reason my essays are not good enough.
ReplyDeleteA few of the couple sentences that immediately made a connection with me were on page 22 second paragraph. It says that " The right words just do not come pouring out like ticker tape most of the time". Now to me, and I;m pretty sure this happens to all of us, is that sometimes nothing pops up and were just like how do i start. Although there had been some times that we instantly know what to write about. The most important thing I learned in this article as well as in class, is that it is very,very important to write our ideas down.
ReplyDeleteI have that same problem as well when it comes to my paper, not exactly realizing its a draft. I guess drafts shouldn't be stressed too much. maybe when its a tough topic and we want to grasp the essay already, firsts drafts are just their for help and support, i completely agree with you.
Deletei agree with you guys that we are stressing to much about the drafts when is a tough topic to explain abut but they are just ways to support your writings
DeleteA connection with me was in page Page 21 the last sentence. It says "Not one of them writes...". Saying that no one is going to write a perfect draft. It takes time to develop no matter how good you are. Many times we are going to have writing that we don't like, it's just a matter of taking your time and trying over and over again until you get it right.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same when I'm writting, I know I can do it better if I try and try.
DeleteBasically, one start with horrible draft become a great final draft once you learned all of your mistake, thus creating many draft until what you and the reader feel right intertwine with each other.
ReplyDeleteI feeI related with this,I always start with orrible drafts but then it starts to getting better
DeleteA connection that i make was n page 22 "very few writers really know what they are doing until they have done it." This quote make me feel more confortable and confident about writting, because in other words it says that I am not the only one that have problems with writing.
ReplyDeleteI think that this article is helpful because people think one way of the first writing has to be prefect but it doesn't. It just writing your ideas downs. Until they're full to be in progress. That would be your fail draft. I strongly agree with the article.
ReplyDeleteOne section I can relate to is when Lamott comments on how "Perfectionism means that you try desperately not to leave so much mess to clean up" (p.28). I remember that I try to only write one draft if possible, mainly because I didn't want to write multiple drafts and felt like I had to get it right the first time. When it comes to my 'fun writing', as I like to call it, I can relate to having 'shitty first drafts' mainly because I would come up with different ideas and edit/cutout pages of writing to work with my new idea.
ReplyDeleteI understood the reading and I could relate it to my life.
ReplyDeleteone thing that i learned from this reading is that even the best writers struggle writing good paper so i should write more than one draft and keep making it better every time so at the end i have a good final draft
ReplyDeletewhat i understand about this article is that i have to put down my ideas in a rough draft so then you can see whats good and then making you final draft
ReplyDeletewhat I can relate to this article is the during my past years in middle school and high school that teachers always wanted the first draft to be great and basically be the official one you have to turn for a grade. In the article explains that the first drafts are just ideas and opinions of what your story is going to be about. You improve draft by draft and finally when you think its finally done. No ones perfect even the experienced writers go draft by draft.
ReplyDeletein all my years of school i would only write one draft. i hated brainstorming and rough drafts. i would also do that on my taks tests. it always worked out for me until i hit junior year my english teacher made us write a bunch of rough drafts and kept them in a portfolio later in the year she would give them to us one by one so we could see our mistakes and what needed improvement.
ReplyDeleteSomething about this article that really stuck with me was when she said that even "experienced" writers have crappy first drafts. I realized that that is something that everybody struggles with. For some reason I had the idea in my head that authors or all of my English teachers for example had Amazing first drafts. I felt like it all came to them naturally. She assured me that that for a fact doesn't happen so now I don't dwell on the idea that since I'm not a "pro" I will never get to have a good first draft. Now I realize EVERYBODY struggles with writing.
ReplyDeleteafter writting all my peers had wrote i have convinve myself that first drafts are the things that makes us think very much and never come with good ideas about what or how we are going to write our essay. writting a paper is a hard thing to do when you dont have good ideas to convey what you are going to say, therefore i learn that mostly all the people have problems making a good essay.
ReplyDeleteThe connection that I can make between the reading and my personal experience is that its true when the author says that there should no t be only one draft because a paper would never be perfect. I cant just write my paper once and think it is papaer because is not. Even the experts start with a draft because they are not perfect.
ReplyDelete