In the essay, “Revision is Central to Developing Writing” by Doug Downs he mentions how revisions to your writing are important and how input from others helps you become a better author. When writing drafts you will make mistakes the first and second time and that is allowable. It’s allowable because that is how you learn from your failures and grow more from those mistakes. Downs also talks about how it takes time when it comes to writing. If you just spend minimal time sometimes that can show minimal effort. Spending time on your writing can help you understand the process in completing and refining your final piece. Revision is a key element in becoming a better writer and successful pieces of your writing.
With the articles, “Revision is Central to Developing Writing” (Downs 66), and “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott, there are many similarities observed between what they both talk about for writing. Both authors acknowledge how it’s good to have bad first and second drafts and that even the best of writers write “shitty” drafts. They both point out that you have to make mistakes and then learn from them as you continue writing. Lamott stated “Very few writers really know what they are doing until they’ve done it”, which I completely believe. You won’t know about something until you try it. Downs mentions “writing is not perfectible, writing also is not in the category of things that are often right the first time” and I think that speaks volumes. I believe that people just assume the writers get their stories right the first time. In reality it takes a writer several times to rewrite the story they finalize everything. The differences with the pieces that I noticed was that “Shitty First Drafts” feels more of a personal experience from the writer whereas the “Revision is Central to Developing Writing” is a more professional point of view.
“Very few writers really know what they are doing until they’ve done it”
These pieces really inspire me, my writing isn’t a failing piece in the beginning and that constructive input is good to advance in my work. I have to learn to “trust the process” and that revising helps to develop my learning in writing. “Failing” in writing is very similar to “failing” in life. From my own personal experience, I attended Lansing Community College right after high school back in the Fall of 2005. At the time I didn’t know what I wanted to go for in college and honestly took very random classes. Though I passed some of the classes, in others I didn’t do well and it was very discouraging. I figured after a few semesters college was not for me after not succeeding and feeling like a complete failure. 15 years later I decided to come back to Lansing Community College in 2020 to try again but this time with a goal in mind. Over the past few semesters I am happy to say I have passed every class and one step closer to getting an Associates degree in Allied Health. With the failures I endured before it helped me understand what I needed to work on for myself and how to apply my failures to my success. Don’t give up even if you failed, learn from the life experience and try again.
