Anne Lamott on "Shitty First Drafts"

"The first draft is the child's draft, where you let it 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 your characters wants to say, "Well, so what Mr. Poopypants?," you let her. No one is going to see it. If the kid wants to get 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 have never gotten to by more rational, grown-up means." -- Anne Lamott

If you're doing NaNoWriMo this year, or are just a writer in distress in need of a pep talk, by all means pick up Anne Lamott's writing guide, Bird by Bird, from which the essay "Shit First Drafts" this quote was taken. Someone on NaNoWriMo's forums called them "vomit drafts," which is appropriate, too.

I hated this book the first time I read it as part of a writing workshop I took more than a decade ago. I though it was treacly, and suitable only for those in dire need of a hand-holding. I was looking for practical advice: sentence structure, word choice, aka, boring stuff. (Okay, crucial stuff if you want your writing to be read, but the nuts and bolts of English grammar is kind of a snooze-fest.) Now I include this book as one of my top recommendations for beginning writers.