Part 1: After reading Shitty First Drafts, I found a lot of things that I related to and that could make me feel better about my own writing. She made the point that writers do not feel like writing all the time and that one writer she knows often may pose himself with this statement: “It’s not like you don’t have a choice, because you do — you can either type, or kill yourself”. I think that this really pulls back the curtain that we have writers hide behind in our minds when we think we can not write. It shows that it is not always something that is fun or comes naturally to even the best, most experienced writer and I think that is important to remember.  Something else that I could also relate to was when she said “It was almost just typing, just making my fingers move. And the writing would be terrible”. This is often what happens with me the first time I make a draft. I just write to get something on the page to make the writing seem less scary. I feel accomplished and like I can tackle it in smaller chunks of revision. “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something — anything — down on paper”.

Part 2 – Revision Strategy:

1. My goal in revision of my first paper is to address the comments that my peers have given me in addition to the issues I noticed on my re-reads of my draft. Some of these things include making it more personal by adding my own experiences and connections, in addition to expressing my own opinion more openly. I need to avoid summarizing my sources. I also need to add length to my paper.
2. To achieve my goal I plan to think about my life experiences and make connections between them and the point I am arguing in my paper. I will also work to weave in my opinion more, which will add the length I need in my essay and also diffuse the tendency I have to summarize the sources.
3. I think my biggest challenge will be reaching the word count in the paper – however I think that once I start stepping out of the summarizing I have done it will be a little bit easier than I anticipate.
4. If I encounter a challenge that seems too much to overcome on my own, I will email Professor Emerson or ask a friend who has already taken this class to help me address it.