#shitty first drafts

[leniisreallycool]

every writer needs to read the essay Shitty First Drafts by Anne Lamott. like go do it right now. it's somehow motivational and validating, which i guess is the point, but seriously it's necessary go read it

[ruindunburnit]

Honey, no

[theravenpiper]

The Half-Truth of Shitty First Drafts

Wannabe writers are fond of repeating Ernest Hemingway's apocryphal quote, "The first draft of anything is shit." That can be useful advice for those perfectionists who get lost in an endless cycle of revision. However, it can easily result in a first draft so off course that revising it is a waste of time, an illusion of progress with no actual progress.

In my experience, if a first draft is to have any value, it must at least be heading in the right direction. It does not need to be perfect, but it needs to be somewhat polished. Parts of it should survive to reach the final draft. Of course, even this modest goal takes more time than spewing your guts out, but the advantage is that each draft becomes less painful than the last one. In the end, it probably takes no longer than any method; in fact, it can often be quicker because you have more direction. Yes, a warning against over-perfection should be taken seriously. (Although quoting Hemingway's comment in this way is ironic, because if anyone was a perfectionist, he was. He claimed that The Old Man and The Sea had fifty drafts). But in listening to the comment as a warning against perfectionism, be sure you don't go to the opposite extreme, and relax standards altogether.

[antlermoss]

Shitty poetry hour

You are a forest.

I look into your eyes and see the sky poking through auburn branches.

Your hands are roots grasping soil.

Your laugh is the wind that makes cascades of red fall.

I see you in the moss, poking through leaf litter

Bright green against dull brown

a menagerie of life hosted in your tiny leaves

I see you in the beetle that crawls along the ground.

His mirror shell a reflection of all that will ever matter.

He is home, he needs nothing more.

In your canopy I am surrounded by wonder,

I am in awe of every crawling thing.

I listen to the birdsong of your words

I cling to every note.

You are my favorite place to be.

If only you had the ears and eyes to know me.

[clarejgold]

Keep messing up

“I definitely strive for perfection in my work. I want to make something beautiful and seamless and special for everyone. Always, I want this. (I know you want this, too!) But striving for that perfection should never get in the way of making it to the finish line or even sitting down to do that work in the first place. Perfection is a goal but not the mission. Have a good week. I hope you f*ck up a little bit.”

– Jami Attenberg, Craft Talk (Oct 22, 2023)

[1000leaps]

#57 | Start with play

A little nonsense now and then is cherished by the wisest men.—Roald Dahl Born in 1929, Frank Gehry is best known as the architect for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. In 1989, he won the Pritzker Prize, the Nobel Prize for architecture. For a professional with such an accomplishment, it’s shocking how much he relies on play in his creative…

[catrad0rable]

a child's plea

[euphonious-night]

this is some of the best writing advice I've ever found. I am one of those writers that invariably edits as I write; when I sit down to write, often the first thing I do is, in fact, go back to what I wrote last time and revise it.

(this comes from George Saunders's 2023 Mar 30 "Office Hours.")

[morverenmaybewrites]

Y’all, I think he’s going to kill Langstrom.

[dollsome-does-tumblr]

so, i don't want kids (health too poor! bank account too poor! energy levels too low! alone time too necessary!) but because i do have all-consuming anxiety and my brain loves to ruminate, i worry about the fact that i don't want kids all the time, and one of the things that always gets me is that "you'll never feel love until you have a kid" adage. is that true????? am i really going to go my whole life without feeling love?!?!?! has nearly everyone around me (my social group is mostly parents) felt love and i haven't??? am i majorly screwing up here??????? should writers know what ultimate love feels like so as to portray it convincingly????? (alternately: is ultimate love not that of parent for child, but actually what exists between me and television program our flag means death?)

[intosnarkness]

See above in re: mysteries. What do you mean I have to write a parlor scene? I hate those, why would I sign up for this? I could have stopped 26k words ago and not have to figure this out.

i would just like to reiterate that if someone had told me when I started writing for this action-adventure heist book that I was going to have to write an action-adventure heist, I would have stopped 52k words ago because i do not know how to do this

[mur-art]

may I request a happy NY? like- not in the sense that he watched a frail child trip in a Walmart parking lot, but in the sense that he’s like- genuinely happy and okay? Love your art style! And don’t feel forced or rushed to answer this 👁️👁️

Just a guy and his 4 million emotional support pigeons!!

NY genuinely loves animals, way more than he likes people (can you blame him?). Especially the ones that others cast aside or ignore; he’s a sucker for them.

This is the first drawing I’ve done of NY where I actually feel like I captured how he looks in my head. 🗽 Chronically tired and overworked, but still shows up in hopes of witnessing some juicy drama.

[mango-sideburns]

My fav thing about TAZ is that any aspect out of context sounds fucking bonkers.

Like, in the balance finale there's a scene in which Garfield (who is very specifically never described visually bc most people imagine him as like. The Lasagna Cat. Who in this universe is the most powerful warlock in the realm and also has a hobby of cloning people, which is great for the one character that got forced into haunting a mannequin) is summoned by an alien spaceship that runs on the power of friendship so he could beat up some flashing balls. In D&D.

And that was just. Such a normal scene in the narrative. No one blinked an eye. I would like to bow down to Griffins clear unmatched talent for making me feel such big emotions over ridiculous shit like a goddamned umbrella or a regular ass pair of jeans or the idea of a taco recipe.

[skitskatdacat63]

"The Boy With The Thorn in His Side"(x) - The Smiths × 2023 Strollonso moments + pundits' reactions

[1000leaps]

#55 | The First Draft of Anything is Shit

Before she became a book writer, Anne Lamott used to write magazine food reviews. She would visit a restaurant a few times, go home with her notes, and try to write a review. She recalled feeling a despair many times in her book Bird By Bird: Even after I’d been doing this for years, panic would set in. I’d try to write a lead, but instead I’d write a couple of dreadful sentences, XX them out,…

[nosnexus]

I haven't the foggiest Idea on how to do timelapse/edit videos, so please excuse my first shot at it. I just thought that my absolute "fuck this" pivot was really funny and wanted to share it with you all lol