Welcome to our new blog series where BIG WRITING IDEAS ARE SIMPLY EXPLAINED! This series is dedicated to sharing key subject knowledge that can make you a better teacher of writing.
Each month, we will share a new concept or figure with you. Over time, we hope this series can build up your expertise. To follow the series, simply sign up to our newsletter here.
This month, we are looking at Anne Lamott.
📣 S*** first drafts
“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts.”
🧠 The big idea
In her widely loved essay ‘S*** First Drafts,’ Anne Lamott reframes the messy beginnings of writing as not just inevitable but essential. She argues that no writers (not even professionals) sit down and produce a polished draft in one go. Instead, the first draft is a private, exploratory space where the only job is to get words onto the page. Revision is where real writing happens.
🏛️ In context
| Year | Event |
| 1994 | Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life published [LINK]. |
| Today | Frequently assigned in creative writing and professional writing contexts. |
🔍 Core concepts
🔺 Permission to write badly
The first draft doesn’t need to be good — it just needs to exist.
✍️ “You can’t fix what you haven’t written.”
🔺 Silencing the inner critic
Worrying about quality too early kills creativity and momentum.
🤫 “Turn off the perfectionist voice until later.”
🔺 Writing as process
Good writing emerges through multiple drafts, each with its own purpose.
🔄 “Drafting is discovery.”
🔺 Private first drafts
Your first draft is for you alone — no one else needs to see it.
🔒 “The mess can stay behind the curtain.”
👤 Key figure
🏛️ Anne Lamott
Novelist, memoirist, and writing teacher known for her humorous, candid, and compassionate approach to the writing life. Bird by Bird is considered a modern classic on writing.
🛠️ In the writing classroom
✅ Model low-stakes drafting to lower students’ writing anxiety.
✅ Use freewriting exercises to encourage children’s risk-taking.
✅ Model the use of revisions strategies as part of class writing projects to normalise revising.
✅ Discuss professional authors’ drafting habits to demystify the process.
⚖️ Criticism and debate
🔸 Some worry it gives children license to turn in underdeveloped manuscripts without revision.
🔸 Others note it risks romanticising ‘chaos’ without teaching concrete revision strategies.
🔸 Still, it’s widely praised for reducing perfectionism and developing a healthier and more realistic writing mindset.
💬 Famous quote
“The first draft of anything is s***” – Ernest Hemingway
Find out more:
- Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott [LINK]
- Freewriting by Peter Elbow [LINK]
- Real-World Writers: A Handbook for Teaching Writing With 7-11 Year Olds by Ross Young & Felicity Ferguson [LINK]