When I read Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts” I noticed that she mentioned the fact that all first drafts written by even famous writers are a complete mess. She also said that you are supposed to just let it all pour out and let it go all over the place, because nobody will read the first draft. You can clean and shape it later. This was not the case for our experiences because we knew that other people were going to be editing and reading through our work thoroughly. I think this gave us more pressure to write something somewhat good the first time around, at least it was like that for me. Although I definitely wouldn’t consider this my best work, I tried not to make it my worst. This was the point of the “Shitty First Drafts,” that it is supposed to be bad the first time around, and I feel like that was not what I experienced.
My goal for my second draft is to reorganize the paragraphs because they are in an order that doesn’t really make sense. Some steps to take to achieve this goal is to read each paragraph carefully and then determine what place makes the most sense for each one. Then I can make better transition sentences between the paragraphs to make them flow more smoothly. My biggest challenge might be realizing that some paragraphs don’t go with the paper and cutting them altogether since I spent so much time writing them. If this becomes too challenging I might have someone read the paragraphs out loud so that I can see what I need to get rid of.
Awesome strategy Megan! I like your idea about reorganizing your paper by paragraph and then making strong topic sentences for them. Maybe consider writing a summary the paragraph and what point you’re trying to prove; this might help you see a concise argument and help to make a solid topic sentence. Have fun!
I definitely get what you mean about wanting to make sure the first drafts are better than what they typically might be because our peers would be reading so it’s not just you! I also think your revision strategy sounds like a good plan, especially the part about reading them out loud. I do that a lot too.
I completely agree with what you said in your blog. When I am writing rough drafts, I try to make it perfect. Lamott said that first drafts are allowed to be messy because no one will ever see it. Knowing peers that I barely know will be reading my writing is a bit intimidating, so I try to make my first drafts almost as good as my final draft. I also have a similar editing style as you. When revising my first draft, most of my changes are made to the organization and the order of my thoughts.