In “Shitty First Drafts” and “Perfectionism”, Anne Lamott discusses the importance and inevitability of one of the most important parts of the writing process. Lamott does, however, take two different approaches in her attempt to convey this idea. In one essay Lamott presents the guideline of first drafts to be the absence of perfection while the other essay highlights the presence of “shittiness” that should be in every rough draft. I think both works allow the reader to see that no matter what you call it, your first draft is essential to the writing process and isn’t supposed to be “How to Kill a Mockingbird” quality just yet.
Lamott seems to write “Shitty First Drafts” to a somewhat less formal audience. She discusses strategies like letting characters say ‘”Well, so what, Mr. Poopy Pants?”’ as well as treating the voices in your head like helpless mice and trapping them into jars. Lamott stresses the importance of just getting your “shitty first draft” down, no matter how silly, or shitty. She opens up about writers not having a naturally occurring flow of words streaming out of them as some may think. She paints the picture of Herman Melville having the same trouble getting started as that poor tenth grader whose mom made him take AP Lang. In fact, Anne Lamott assures us of this: “We all often feel like we are pulling teeth, even those writers whose prose ends up being the most natural and fluid.”
“Perfectionism” was written in a way that encompasses all parts of life, instead of just writing. Lamott approaches this piece of writing as a general rule of thumb, instead of simply a rule of literature. She says perfectionism “will keep you cramped and insane your whole life.” Lamott challenges the reader to take a step back from unrealistic expectations of perfectionism in all aspects, including first drafts. Instead of puerile technics mentioned in “Shitty First Drafts”, the author suggests turning to your God in order to break free from the unflawed point of view, in writing as well as life.
Both works highlight the need of a rough draft, in the rawest sense of the term. “Shitty First Drafts” focusses for the most part on writing within itself, while “Perfectionism” breaks that mold and allows the reader to apply the text to every facet of their life. When broken down, both themes can be related back to taking a step away from the voices in your head telling you everything has to be untarnished and just letting the words flow.