In many ways, the piece Shitty First Drafts, reminded me of a sculptor chipping away at a piece of marble. Specifically, when Lamott talks about just getting everything down on paper at first. She talks about the fact that when you are pouring everything out, because you're starting from scratch and you don't really have any idea what you're going to talk about, there are sometimes really good sentences or words that come out. This reminded me of the sculptor who has to chip away at the marble, and even though he is at the beginning of the sculpture, he will very quickly reach a part of the sculpture that will remain in the final product. As he continues to sculpt, the shape of the final sculpture takes place more and more, and there are many more sections of marble that appear that will remain. Nonetheless, these first pieces of final sculpture that are reached are evidence that writing is a process, and that the final product will have some parts of each layer chipped away (draft).
The sculptor must also listen to the medium he is working with. Much as Lamott talks about silencing the other voices that are bothering you inside your head, the sculptor must do the same. If he were thinking about his annoying parents, or his money problems, his vision would be corrupted. He would never be able to see where he was going with the piece, and he might let these other visions work their way into his piece. Thus, one must work on a piece of writing in much the same way as a sculptor. Working with a clear mind to chip away the layers of shit that surround their final piece of writing, keeping those sections that aren't covered in shit as they work their ways down.
Jeff I think you pose an interesting point. The Shitty First Drafts does resemble sculpting in the way that you "sculpt" your paper as you write it, but I think this can be applied to art in general. Every piece of art is subjected to the artists creative capacity. Another reason why I think sculpting resembles Shitty First Drafts is because writing a paper is just like crafting a piece of art. We work on a single piece of literature, and perfect it just like an artist and his work. I like your visual comparison of sculpting and Shitty First Drafts.
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