Just Write

After reading Anne Lamott's "Shitty First Drafts", I felt like I could relate to it but I also feel like it was over exaggerated. She said "Almost all good writings start with terrible first efforts." I disagree with this statement because I have tried to write essays with terrible first efforts and I either have to start over or I receive a terrible grade. When I have written my best essays, my first drafts have been well thought out and there has been lots of effort put into it from the start. On the other hand, I do see what she is trying to say where it is better to write out your thoughts rather than have writer's block and not write anything out. Sometimes when I am writing whatever comes to me I come up with really good ideas that I would not have come up with unless I was rambling on in an essay just to make the essay longer. Lamott has similar experiences "There may be something in the very last line of the very last paragraph...but there is no way to get this without getting through the first 5 and a half pages." You have to read her text with a grain of salt. What she says is a good strategy to a point. When you write down whatever comes to you, there can be some great thoughts you put on paper but this doesn't mean that you can plan on writing with terrible first efforts and expect to create a well-written paper.