In “Revision Is Central to Developing Writing” from the book Naming What We Know, Doug Downs describes the importance of revision in the writing process and how revision is a significant part of excellent writing. When a writer chooses to go back and revise their work, they get better at finding and analyzing their mistakes. When a writer goes back to revise what they have written, it is far less likely that they will continue repeating those mistakes. He also stated that revision shouldn’t be discouraging for writers because those who revise their work show maturity and skill in their writing. He also made it very clear that a writer should not fear any suggestions for revision as though we are being judged and that we should learn to accept all feedback as something helpful and positive so we can ultimately improve our writing. This is difficult to fathom because as writers we are generally scared of other people reading what we’ve written and it’s actually counterproductive to our growth.
“Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott shares many similarities to Downs’ views in regards to revision. Both authors encourage their readers to not become discouraged with their first drafts and to just get something written down as it can always be revised and rewritten later. They both emphasize that writing is a step-by-step process and a writer cannot expect to master this on the first draft. Both Downs and Lamott mentioned that it was imperative that a writer has another person review their work so that they can get that fresh perspective. My favorite quote from Lamott breaks down the entire process of writing into 3 steps:
- The Down Draft (Getting something written down!)
- The Up Draft (Fix it up and make more precise points)
- The Dental Draft (Check every sentence and paragraph like a dentist would check every tooth at your cleaning)
This is such a great analogy and gives you an easy to comprehend visual to compare the entire writing process to.
I often get so focused on saying all of the things that I want to say in exactly the right way with absolutely zero mistakes in my first draft that I get extremely frustrated and feel like giving up before I really get started. In high school I rarely had anyone review my drafts but now I know just how helpful to me it is to have another set of eyes on my writing. I’m no longer afraid to write a shitty first draft because I know I always have revisions I can make. Both of these essays were great reminders to myself that I do not need to write an absolutely perfect first draft to eventually write a great essay.
