My first draft experience was pretty similar to Anne Lamott’s experience in the sense that the writing was not the quality I wanted and it was pretty much all over the place. I wasn’t quite so stressed as Lamott says she gets when writing a first draft. I was surprised at how hard she made writing a first draft out to be because I found it relatively easy to get my ideas down on paper. My main struggle will be going through the feedback on my work and revising it so that everything makes sense. I was also surprised at how many writers struggle with their first draft.
My goal for my revision is to cultivate a second draft that makes more sense and more strongly articulates my ideas than the first. I will first read through the feedback I’ve received on my first draft and take note of what feedback makes the most sense for my writing and what I need to do to get my point across more clearly. The first thing I will address is my thesis statement, which needs to be strengthened to fit more closely with my arguments. Then I will re-read my essay and remove parts that don’t flow and add context to quotes that need it. I will be sure to look for pieces of each paragraph that could potentially be more well-suited as a topic sentence. I think that my biggest challenge will be clearly explaining my ideas without adding fluff to my essay. I also think that becoming overwhelmed by which feedback to use and not having enough time to write a good quality essay will be a challenge for me. If any of these challenges arises I will take a step back and try to view my writing from a reader’s perspective and see what makes the most sense for my essay. I will also make sure to set aside time just to work on my essay so that I can better manage my time.
I really liked your explanation of your drafting process. I admire the fact that you allowed the whole class to comment on your draft. That takes a lot of confidence to let the class read your first version, unedited, and leaves you with a lot of criticism. You clearly have a great flow of ideas regarding the essay and I think it is important for you to get all ideas down while they are fresh in your mind and not struggle to make perfect sense on the first draft. I think your plans are very accurate and doable. It is important to have a strong thesis as well as clear and concise ideas.
I agree with you and felt that getting my ideas down on paper was the easy part. Lammott says that part was stressful but I think the stressful part comes after all your ideas are down and you have to really organize your paper. I think your goals for revising your free draft are also doable. It is important to have a clear thesis and topic sentences and that will strengthen you paper.
I found myself in the same boat as Lamott in both quality and having difficulty finding what to say with my first draft. Everyone has their own individual struggles when it comes to writing, or in fact anything. What I can say personally about first drafts being so hard is that I don’t want to say the wrong thing or express it in a less than satisfactory way. It is silly but it is a process to change.
As for a helpful tip, just really try to structure your time when it comes to working on your essay (and everything else you are doing now). You got a plethora of feedback and seemingly not enough time to go through it all, but if you schedule a few hours just for the paper and hunker down you can get through it. Good luck!