#shittyfirstdraft

[itscheating]

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First run this new @apple #logicprox update is type 🔥 for #remix ing #music. #shittyfirstdraft https://www.instagram.com/p/CAJAH6tDjey/?igshid=1asw61zxqz6wy

[phoenixwritings]

I wrote 4,000 words today. It felt good to stretch those muscles. #shittyfirstdraft #yafantasy #writing #writingcommunity https://www.instagram.com/p/BtUtkxDhia0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1bnmlaima1mcj

[catsburglynchington]

#100dayproject day 12 - in which I return to the farmer's wife's narrative and the words start to come easier. Writing on the phone one while the kid snoozes in a post-park nap. Not for the first time I am greatful for swings and google drive #finallyspring #writingprocess #clandestinesubmersiblecorps #chugging through my #shittyfirstdraft

[catsburglynchington]

Sgetting my #studiosunday time in early when, a rare gift, the kid sleeps past 6:30. This residency has made me a ruthless prioritizer. #artistresidencyinmotherhood #useeveryminute #writing my #shittyfirstdraft #clandestinesubmersiblecorps #research

[catsburglynchington]

#morningstudio #studiocat Getting through the #shittyfirstdraft one #cupofcoffee at a time. #momswhowrite #weehours #clandestinesubmersiblecorps

[edhickcox]

I kind of love this the most. #writing #novelwriting #shittyfirstdraft

[phoenixwritings]

I love the shitty first draft process. I wrote 14k this week for NaNoWri even though I have a sinus infection, grading 16 essays, and teaching. I love the chaotic writer lifestyle! #fantasy #spilledink #shittyfirstdraft

[michael-rubino-blog-blog]

Shitty First Drafts

What's great about this explanation by Lamot is that pretty much any student and every writer can relate to this situation. I don't think I have ever had a first draft that wasn't shitty. Some people who think they have written an excellent first draft are probably deceiving themselves, convincing themselves that it is a good draft for a variety of reasons: not feeling the desire to write due to the topic, providing a sense of worth to their writing, etc. 

It really is just about getting the ideas down on paper to have some sort of visual for the work that the writer wants to present to the reader. An outline sometimes just simply doesn't cut it. I am currently writing a fanfiction with an original idea with an outline that is changing on a weekly basis. Having the outline is great, but a writer could think of the shitty first draft as a more elaborate version of the outline. It makes the writing more concrete and eliminates self-doubt on the chronology especially (at least in my case). 

I remember that Hemingway once said that it is highly advisable that a writer not think too much about the writing outside of the writing. It seems that writers tend to follow this and use the drafts as the opportunity to do that thinking. 

I have found that the hardest part in writing is just getting those first few sentences down on paper. It is almost impossible to start with the right lead-in that will get the readers interested. This is where that shitty first draft comes in. Write down anything. Seriously. Anything. As the writer continues to write and let the words flow, eventually the true purpose of this particular part of the writing becomes clear whether it is an essay or a story with chapters. Along the way something in that flow of writing triggers something.