Running Head: MUSICAL TRANSLATION

Alyssa Desormeaux

Writing Process Portfolio

University of Central Florida

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PART I:

While reading Lamott’s (1994) “Shitty First Drafts”, I first felt a little surprised at how

relatable she described experienced writers and authors, such as herself, can be when it first

comes to writing a draft for any genre or topic. I also like how relatable she is when she

described how when it comes to starting that first draft, there are always these “voices”, or any

form of distractions, that just simply refrain you or discourage you from being able to start your

draft, concentrate, or just simply harshly critiquing you(rself) before you are even done.

Although I found it majorly surprising at how such experienced writers and authors also have

trouble getting started on their first drafts, it also make me feel comfortable to know that if I

were to make lots of mistakes, or have my first draft seem really cringy and terrible at first, that

it is all completely normal. It makes me feel comfortable knowing that in the future, when I

make a very first draft discussing a specific topic, or possible theme, that it would be alright for

the most part, for me to have lots of mistakes on it, or for it to be terrible in general. Because in

the end, it could allow me to finally figure out exactly what it is that I would like to talk about in

my future drafts, and what I would need to make sure to fix and elaborate on for my final drafts.

When it comes to revising my work for all my drafts, such as that discussed in Sommers’

(1980) Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers”, I found it

interesting how I, being a student writer, related to the many things the other student writers in

Sommers’ research had to say about how they revise their writing. I also found it interesting in

terms of the major differences on how experienced writers were to revise their works, versus

how student writers revised their works. With the information provided on how experienced
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writers revised their work, it has influenced/inspired me to be more careful, organized,

elaborative, and so much more with how I do my revisions.

PART II:

These readings from Sommers and Lamott, really changed my views on how I revise my

work, and how I should revise it differently in the future. For example, in Sommers’ (1980),

article, where she speaks on the differences of how student writers and experienced writers

revise their work, (where I mostly identified my revisions as being with the student writers), has

acted like an inspiration for me to take my revisions more seriously, and to take my time with

them as well. It has influenced to change my focus on revising from simply checking for and

correcting grammar mistakes, to instead making sure that what I am writing is consistent, and if

the reader/audience can tell exactly what my view is on a certain topic, as well as if it is clear for

the reader to easily understand.

Although the experienced writers are described to have all the time in the world, and are

always editing and revising, I know that in the future, with me being a college student, I will

have to work against a deadline. Therefore, when it comes to editing and revising, I will have to

make sure that I am able to leave a day or two’s worth for specifically revising my work. And by

revising, it should not be by only checking for simple grammar mistakes, but to also ensure that,

like the experienced writers, everything that I have written is clear and understandable and is

elaborative and consistent to my topic or theme.

However, if I were to have to write one single draft for a course, that doesn’t require

other previous drafts that can allow me to have a shitty first draft like Lamott (1994), I will plan
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to incorporate revisions in my draft by first breaking down my writings into personal, separate

drafts, based on my own deadlines, that I will most likely not turn in. The first one will of course

be my shitty first draft, and because I would not have to worry about turning it in, I will just keep

writing, without worrying about any simple mistakes, until I were to come down with an

idea/topic that gives me plenty of interest. Once done with my very first draft, I will revise it by

crossing out what I don’t like, and keeping what I do like, where I would later elaborate on those

topics/themes or ideas that I liked that were previously mentioned.

Thinking and reading about the revision process from both articles has influenced how I

finish my Major Project 1 by allowing me to understand that it is more than okay, that it is

normal, even for experienced writers to have what Lamott (1994) calls a “shitty first draft”. It is

alright to have a terrible first draft because that is where your opportunity is to brainstorm on

themes, topics and ideas. The readings, specifically regarding Sommers (1980), have inspired me

to revise my work more like an experienced writer would. Where when revising their work, they

would put their primary focus on making sure that it is readable and understandable to the

audience/readers. That every new idea that they bring on is consistent with the topic/theme, that

what they are writing can explicitly state and allow the readers to understand their own personal

views or arguments.