Anne Lamott, an author from California wrote a book called Bird by bird. This title was inspired by her father who used the term bird by bird we will get this finished, the night before her year long project was due on birds. The extract ‘shitty first drafts’ was from this book and in which Lamott talks about the struggles of writing. During this writing Lamott stresses that writing doesn’t come easy and that it takes time perfection doesn’t just happen.
The title helps people understand how bad first drafts can be. “There may be something in the very last line on the sixth page, that you just love.” This idea of free writing and getting thoughts down on the page is that if you keep writing eventually you will write something of value that you can use. You cant have enough drafts writing is never perfect you can always refine and tinker as Lamott says “the first draft is the down draft — you just get it down. The second draft is the up draft — you fix it up. You try to say what you have to say more accurately. And the third draft is the dental draft, where you check every tooth, to see if it’s loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy.”
Lamott, Anne. “Shitty First Drafts.” College of Arts & Science Writing, Rhetoric & Digital Studies. U of Kentucky, n.d. PDF. 10 April 2016
bradley robinson 