In Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts”, she shares her personal experiences of writing, well, shitty first drafts. As a qualified and experienced writer, even she gets stuck in a rut while writing, just like me and you. When writing her food reviews for “California” magazine, she lets us know it was a task to get to her end result, and it all started with a panicked, unorganized, messy, overly-long, shitty first draft. It’s very appeasing to know that I’m not the only one who is worried and stressed with the computer in front of me when first writing, whether it is as short as this blog, or as long as our 5 page essay. I feel almost always the same way Anne feels when writing, but with time, it always comes together by the end.
Revision Plan Strategy:
1.)My absolute main goal for revision is to incorporate more of my voice into the paper, and by that I mean to form a more definitive, clear argument that will include my opinions. Doing this, the audience will get more of a sense for my perspective and view, rather than, say, Khullar, Erard or Geary.
2.)The steps I will do to achieve this goal in my revision process will to take it by paragraph by paragraph(or as Lamott states, Bird by Bird). In each paragraph I will weed out the fluff, and possibly even quotes or part of quotes. I will then add sentences and paragraphs that solely incorporates my feelings and/or opinions for each topic. I will also look at my thesis, and make sure that my paragraphs fully follow what im trying to say, so my readers will stay on track, and not get lost in the text.
3.)Looking at what my peers had to say about my essay, and even simply reflecting on my piece of work myself, I have seen a few things that absolutely need to be worked on. There are a few smaller things to work through, but my biggest challenge will probably be to change my writing style. In the past I was taught to use a source that was given to its full extent and incorporate a lot of evidence into my essays. After years and years of doing this, it has brain-washed me to use evidence as something to lean on, almost as a safety blanket. It will be hard for me to let go of that safety blanket by limiting the evidence and making my voice and opinion dominate.
4.)When working through this challenge, and possibly encountering a road block, I will make sure to utilize my resources. These resources are peers, SASC, and most importantly my professor.
