“Revision Is Central to Developing Writing,” written by Doug Downs, is a passage about how one needs to accept revision. The concept he is conveying is that revision of your work or others work is not to punish or to mock some one. Revision is used to help produce a better product, one that the author will be proud of and the reader will enough reading. “Novice or unreflective writing especially for students may see reflection as punishment for poor performance” (4th Paragraph 2nd sentence). From what he is conveying it is not to mock their writing but to improve writing as a whole. It helps with grammar, spelling, and punctuation to make your writing flow. Downs used the analogy that “writing is like driving with headlights at night” (2nd paragraph 5th sentence). The sentence is trying to explain that if you aren’t moving the end of the headlights only reach a fraction of the possibilities that you can see. Like in writing if you don’t revise your work it’s only gonna be a fraction of how well your work can become. And as you drive the headlights you get to see more. When you revise you make the writing better and you get to see more how better it becomes.
This writing compared to Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts” They both speak about the importance of making mistakes and being vulnerable to criticism. “Very few writers know what they are doing until they’ve done it” (2nd paragraph 1st sentence). This is any important because no writer is going to sit down and just start writing and have it be 100% complete wit no errors. Anne describes the first draft as a child’s draft because “its where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and you can shape it later” (4th paragraph 1st sentence). The first draft is really just a paper that you put your ideas down. The contrast of them are, Anne Lamott explained that the first draft is meant to be awful hence why it is call “Shitty First Draft”, she explained how this part of the process is merely about putting words on paper and observing what happens. Doug Downs is more about cleaning up that “shit” the difference between your first draft and your first revision should be noticeable because you now have something to work with. You get a ton of information about revision with these papers. With one talking about drafts and the other talking about revisions to grammar and punctuation, both help to make you a successful writer.
