Back when I started writing almost 30 years ago, Anne Lamott wrote a book on writing called Bird by Bird. The biggest takeaway I learned from that book was the concept of “shitty first drafts.”
Books take many drafts to write. I’ve got it down to about 4 drafts. That means four times of reading the entire manuscript through from start to finish and making changes and polishing as I go. I am currently writing what Anne Lamott calls the “shitty first draft.” When I first read of that strategy, I knew it was a winner.
First drafts are never good. Not even if you’re Hemingway or Faulkner. In fact, they can be quite shitty. First drafts are when you throw your perfectionism away, and just get your ideas down on paper. First drafts are when you worry that you might die in your sleep before you finish it, and someone might read it, and think that you’re a really shitty writer. First drafts are to be destroyed upon your death.
Even the most seasoned writers write bad first drafts. I can write a really good story if you give me enough time and let me get rid of all the repetition, incomplete thoughts, and bad sentences, and let me polish my prose.
This is the plan for the rest of this year: after I get the first draft into my laptop, then I print it out and will reread and revise on paper. Then I rinse and repeat three more drafts. That’s why writing usually takes writers a long time. For me, it usually takes about a year and a half if I have minimal distractions.
This time, I’m doing something I’ve never done before. I’m writing a memoir. Even when you’re writing a book about your life, it still needs to be a really good story and well-crafted, and you’ve still got to get yourself out of the way, which sounds counter-intuitive, and probably is.
But the first fifty pages is indeed a mess, and I’m hoping I don’t die peacefully in my sleep before I finish it. Please pray for my safety until I finish this!
But the good news is I’m writing like crazy at all hours of the day and night, and with an element of freedom I’ve never had before. Since I live by myself and don’t have anybody else to take care of (except my sweetheart of a dog, Rocky), I’m pouring everything I’ve got into it. My whole ❤️.
Meanwhile, I hope you’ve had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend. It’s been rainy and dreary here in paradise, otherwise known as Jonesborough, TN, but I’ve barely noticed because I’m doing that thing I love above all else: writing a shitty first draft.
Love you!
Susan
Thank you for this! A memoir is actually very difficult, as I have found when I tried it. But it allows us to see in retrospect who and what has shaped us. To whom we are grateful. What we have struggled to change. When and where we have succeeded--and failed. How much to reveal. Where are there still pools of anger or hate. What tasks of growth still await us. I am looking forward to reading your memoir, as I do your weekly columns! If we don't allow ourselves to write the sh...ty first drafts, we never get to the immensely satisfying reward at the end of the process: what we have learned.
You had me laughing!!! I look forward to reading your memoir!! JAY SIMONE