Shitty Shitty First Drafts Makes Pretty Polished Finals!

Anne Lennox hit the nail on the head for me. I can recall quite a few nights and early mornings pacing around my house waiting for the perfect thought to come that would set me off on what I needed to write. My writing process begins in one of two ways: I can sit down and almost immediately coherent prose, sometimes funny sometimes cynical, will ignite from the keys on my lap top and a decent first draft will come out. Other times, I will sit, wait, watch my laptop or paper, get up, walk around, consider the window… and in those cases it is all I can do to pump out some random disjointed thoughts, some vague ideas of the direction I might go in and hope that when I begin again I can find something useful in my notes. I have noticed my writing comes in different styles depending on where I write. Academic writing feels best on a computer screen where words appear perfectly symmetrical and each page formats like a novel. However, nothing in the writing process feels more natural than handwriting my notes; either brainstorming ideas for a long assignment about a novel I enjoyed or simply scribbling out my thoughts in the shape of webs and ladders. I can make this stage as detailed or as haphazard as I like depending on the type of piece I want to write. Overall, I think writing is pretty fulfilling, being able to revise and repair until finally, somehow everything flows together and if you are lucky you might just find the perfect words.