No Blank Pages

           Reading “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott made me feel better about how my writing process goes. I write the same way that Lamott described. Usually I just start typing whatever pops into my head. Maybe it’s because I hate staring at blank pages and feel the need to get something down, even if it hardly makes sense. I jump from idea to idea sometimes not even making full sentences. Even for our writing workshop on Friday, just writing a thesis I had to start by typing everything I could think of that connected Cat’s Cradle and The Things They Carried. I had a full page of a jumble of words and ideas and half sentences before I was able to assemble some sort of thesis. Even when I write these blog posts I just start typing whatever ideas I have in my head. I usually end up with a random assortment of thoughts that don’t even connect and then slowly weed out what I want to say. This blog post also started as a chaotic mess, which is kind of ironic. Anyways, I always thought this way of writing was “wrong”. I know there isn’t really a “right” way to start the process, but my way starts so disorganized and chaotic I didn’t think many people did it that way. Some people just seem so organized and like they immediately know what they want to say. Lamott said that “very few writers know what they’re doing until they’ve done it”. It’s comforting to know that a lot of writers just start typing, just start moving their fingers. It just seems like good writers have it all figured out, all planned out in their heads. I guess sometimes the best way to start writing is just to start writing, even if it starts as merely a spew of half-thoughts and almost-there sentences.