Blog Post #3

Nicolas Blanton

Mat Wenzel

ENC 2135

22 January 2018

I found it interesting to witness the level to which some writers are cynics. Lamott talked about her friend that says he makes the choice to write or kill himself every morning and she commented about getting “creamed by a car.” This added a nice humor element that I personally appreciated. However, this did not overshadow the main point and that was that to create superior writing one must begin by purging some not-so-superior writing. Lamott’s view of herself after she frames the initial draft is very relatable in my situation. I hate writing the first draft and then looking back on it. It is so discomforting and plainly discouraging. Also, her analogy with the x-ray apron is so accurate it’s scary. Whenever I sit down with a big project or paper to do, the weight of everything to come is crushing and at times handicapping. One thing I did find to be seemingly counterintuitive, yet if it works for Lamott then more power to her, is where she takes a pen and scratches out “everything (she) possibly could” and she ends up finding something suitable to write about in the most obscure corner of her original draft. Like I said, I find this to be a bit inefficient, but if this is what it takes for her to create great writing then who am I to judge? She makes more money than me doing this whole writing thing.