“Revision Is Central to developing Writing” written by Doug Downs expresses how important the revision process is to writers. You should be able to take your time to make sure everything flows, and seems well written out. Doug states “The expectation of revision-the building of time into a writing process-creates both the opportunity for, and sometimes directed prompting for, looking at the text again, differently.” I find this statement to be true as you practice revising, you will get better at writing. Writing does not come naturally, it is learned through mistakes you find as you revise. Doug talks about how sometimes you may struggle, but if you do not revise, your paper will be much worse because you didn’t go back and proofread. What you don’t do, nothing will be done. If you slack off and don’t proofread, in fact you will only be hurting your writing skills.
In comparison to Anne Lamotts “Shitty First Drafts” Doug gets more in depth of the importance of going back through your paper, and making sure everything is exactly how you want it. In “Shitty First Drafts” Anne talks about how most of the time you write the bare minimum to try to get words on the page, without even knowing if it makes any sort of sense. These essays compare very well with each other. Anne lets you know it is okay to make mistakes, while Doug reassures you to make sure you learn from your mistakes. This is how all writing should be done. It is important to write as many words on your paper the first time, yes. It is just as important to meet the expectations correctly in your final draft, as Doug explains. Your overall product of your shitty first draft is going to be the best draft you have ever made, if you revise, and work for it.
Throughout college I have come to appreciate going through my essay, and making sure I like the set up before I turn it in. I have gotten a lot better at knowing my expectations of a writer to my professors. Learning your writing process early on is beneficial when writing essays in the future. Everyone’s writing process is different from one anothers, but everyone learns from their mistakes. The biggest lesson these two pieces of writing have taught me is it’s okay to make mistakes as long as you know what you did wrong. I have a major issue with my writing because I do not go into detail with my evidence. Although I did not learn an effective way to break this habit this semester, I will not let myself down, and will keep working on it.
