Thursdays at The Variegated Life: on the creative life and shipping the goodies …
Shitty Drafts
It’s not my idea; it’s Anne Lamott‘s. One of the best gifts that anyone has ever given me (it was from one of my many college roommates, upon graduation) is her book Bird by Bird (not an affiliate link, but do read the book, if you haven’t already). From the chapter on shitty drafts:
For me and most of the other writers I know, writing is not rapturous. In fact, the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts.
The first draft is the child’s draft, 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 that you can shape it later. You just let this childlike part of you channel whatever voices and visions come through and onto the page. If one of the characters wants to say, “Well, so what, Mr. Poopy Pants?,” you let her. No one is going to see it. If the kid wants to get into really sentimental, weepy, emotional territory, you let him. Just get it all down on paper, because there may be something great in those six crazy pages that you would never have gotten to by more rational, grown-up means.
In my experience, there doesn’t even need to be “something great.” The pages don’t need to be “crazy.” There doesn’t even need to be six of them (hardly!). There just has to be something. Something to work with. A start.
The Process That Follows
It’s been a tough year overall so far, and I’ve been having a tough time connecting in my writing. I’ve spent a lot of time staring at this rule (the rules are posted on the bulletin board above my desk) and wondering, process? I have a process? What the hell is that?
I’m glad I asked myself these questions and really pushed myself to answer, because however the writing has been going, I now know this much: I know what my process is. It’s pretty simple.
I write the next draft.
The moment I think I have to sit down and write a poem is the moment I give up. And so I never sit down to write a poem. I just sit down to write a shitty draft. And then the next draft. And then the next, and the next, and the next. Eventually, somehow, sometimes, an actual poem emerges.
Gifts
And then sometimes I get lucky, and a poem pours forth, all at once, fully formed, like Athene from the mind of Zeus. In fact, my first published poem, which will be in The Mom Egg this May, came to me in this way one morning as I was waiting for the B23 bus in the rain. But, lovely as they are, gifts can’t be counted on. And they tend not to come, anyway, unless I’ve been showing up again and again, to write the next draft.
What’s your creative process?
Next Thursday: nobody wants to hear you complain.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve been drawing a lot from Bird by Bird in teaching my writing classes.
My creative process is thus:
go to library and sit by the window with my laptop and coffee. Try to stay off internet and squeeze as much writing as possible out of my short time away from kids.
I’m so happy to read your posts about writing. Right now it may be the only thing keeping me connected to my writing self some weeks.
Thank you for sharing your process!
This week I will write SOMETHING.
teresa recently posted… Wordless Wednesday- Healthy Eating!
Hey, Teresa — it’s been almost a week since this post. I hope that you wrote something!
LOVED bird by bird. (really i love all books by anne lamott, but that one is my favorite!)
my creative process is totally in transition right now. i’m teaching a lot right now (yoga, workshops etc.) and writing a little less.
one thing that is hugely helping me is getting my work space decluttered (life-long battle for me) and knowing what i’m going to work on before i sit down at the computer.
i’m also trying to work an “unplugged day” into my week. too much facebook and internet surfing definitely zaps my creativity and my energy!
~erin
Hi, Erin! Nice to see you here.
When I wrote this post, I was thinking that I should check out some of Anne Lamott’s other work. So far I’ve read (and re-read) only Bird by Bird.
I like your idea of an “unplugged day” every week. For me, it would have to be Saturday. Hm (mental wheels turning) …
As for the decluttered work space — keep your desk clean is my first rule for writing poetry! It’s a challenge for me, too. I suppose that if it weren’t a challenge, I wouldn’t need a rule for it.
I think I have less of a process and more of a circus?
mumsyjr recently posted… Sick Day
Ha!
I was just reading this tip, to plan to write a terrible first draft, somewhere recently. It’s a great piece of advice. Thanks!
Leslie recently posted… Painting 101
Ah, so agree with you. I just finished my Phd, and it was exactly this way that it happened, writing the first horrible draft, and the next one, and so on. It took me a while, and a great talk with one of my fellow students, to understand this, and to accept it as normal. But it is the greatest advice ever. When needing to cut my procastination, I also said to myself I needed to write at least 500 words, whatever they were. That normally got me going, or at least it added up!
I make myself write on a schedule.
Sometimes I hate it, and sometimes I love it. But if I don’t do it, then it doesn’t happen, and I am sad. So I do it. And I get better in the process.
Amber recently posted… One of Those Days
I’ve often wondered about your schedule. For example, does posting six days each week mean that you write a post a day, six days each week? I’m very curious about it, actually.
OK, this book keeps being mentioned. It is in my Amazon basket – must actually purchase it now! Just had my fingers burnt with crap writing books one too many times. Totally agree with the sentiment. I go one step further – I put my blog posts up in working state and edit during the day – writer’s suicide? perhaps – but I just want to get my writing out there, like a bird I like it to fly the nest. I LOVE LOVE LOVE writing, and am delighted to be blogging now rather than 1) writing everything I love and parking it on my computer cos it’s too way out or personal for anyone to publish – at least until I’m a book author and 2) not having to chase new avenues for paid publication, just being happy with my regular paid slots in Modern Mum and JUNO, but still getting new material out there. I do spend too long writing, I think my husband misses me. But at least he has a happy wife and the kiddies a happy mama, and I watch a lot less TV!
Lucy @ dreamingaloudnet recently posted… Why- thank you!
Wow. Publish and then edit? That’s pretty radical.
I should do a post on my favorite writing books. Last term, my students kept asking for recommendations. I might as well just write the post so I can give students the link, should they ask again next term, or the term after that….
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