Shitty first drafts- Nathan Warrell

      In reading this excerpt from Anne Lammott's Bird by Bird  I've suddenly felt a sense of instantaneous relief in regards to the task of writing my first college essay. The passage was both comforting and informative seemingly coherently forming a unified mix of comic relief and helpful information on how to approach writing a first draft. Reading the passage helped me understand that when approaching writing a first draft not everything has to be perfect. It helped me understand that rather than trying to perfect your writing all in one shot, the thoughts that are being produced should be written out and revised later if necessary. Trying to make a first attempt flawless can cause for a stall in the writing process completely. Perhaps one of the most interesting things the passage did for me was adjust my viewpoint on what some would consider unnecessary writing material or "filler". I now understand that these so called "flaws" or filler portions of a first draft can produce new ideas and even if what is written in the first draft is not perfect, if all of your ideas are put down on paper, the writing has the potential to be far better in the next revision stage and eventually the final draft.