Viruses

After reading “Shitty First Drafts” and “Perfectionism”, I have more confidence writing my first draft of my essay. I know that seems like a complete oxymoron, because the likelihood that my first draft will be anything close to good is slim to none. “Shitty First Drafts” exposed the insecurities many writers, myself included, face. I loved the quote when the author says, “The right words and sentences just do not come poring out like ticker tape.” (Lamott, 22) I have always struggled to translate the thoughts that are going on in my head into coherent logical sentences. A huge contributor to that is the pressure to be perfect.  We are so determined to make sure we have the most colloquial and beautiful piece of work we get distracted from the true value of what we are trying to articulate. Theses “voices” are viruses that infect our healthy pieces of work. They break down self-esteem and the courage to go outside our comfort zones. In Shitty First Drafts, Lamott describes a method to try and isolate and tune out these voices. She says, “Isolate one of the voices and imagine the person is a mouse. Pick it up by the tail and drop it into a mason jar… Then put the lid on and watch all the mouse people clawing at the glass.” (Lamott, 27) Although this is a somewhat grotesque analogy, I think it is extremely powerful.  Theses voices undermined our confidence in our originality; however, personifying the voices into an inferior being, gives us back our power and voice. Taking control of theses negative factors helps to establish a strong independent voice. The biggest things I take away from reading these pieces, is I have to write some pretty bad shit in order to find the good. It is a process that takes time. I have to try and eliminate and turn down the volume of those voices constantly putting down my work, because then I can begin to see the power in my own written word.