The short essay, “Shitty First Drafts” was very relatable to me. I understood the process described very well. I agree with her process of multiple drafts. I think it is important to have your first draft be your “downdraft”, where you just get every single idea in your head down and somehow piece it together. Next, you compose your second draft which is your “updraft”. Here you fix everything up and piece it together. Lastly the third draft, you carefully go through it with a fine tooth comb, looking for imperfections.
My revision plan is to integrate my opinion more into my essay as well as building stronger claim sentences in each of my paragraphs. I will take the steps of figuring out what I want to relay in each paragraph and build a strong claim sentence that can be based on my opinion that I want to voice in the paragraph as well. My biggest challenge is finding one central topic to build my claim off of. I need to stay focused on the one definite claim instead of different opinions and ideas. I plan to read my essay aloud to friends and family member and ask them if they could pick out the main focus of that paragraph. If they cannot fully understand it as an outside listener, then I must go back and revise it to be more clear.
I think my first draft experience was similar to yours. I used my first draft to just get my ideas down and then use my next drafts to fine tune everything. I like your plans to strengthen your claim sentences in your paragraphs and taking the time to make sure the information you intend to relay is relayed. It’s important to make sure that you don’t get off topic within your paragraphs. I also like your plan to have your friends and family read your essay for more feedback on it. This offers an unbiased opinion and is a great way to make sure everything makes sense. That gave me the idea to try that for myself. Great job with your revision plan.
I also want to state my own opinion more. I think it is a great idea to build stronger claim points because they are very important to your paper. So that is a great start to revising your paper. I also think that reading aloud is a great idea as I always notice something new about my papers when I read them aloud.
The downdraft and updraft was a great way to explain it. What I can say personally about first drafts being so hard is that I don’t want to say the wrong thing or express it in a less than satisfactory way. So getting that downdraft idea down then being able to build from there is a great way to end with a wonderful paper.
As for helpful tips, just really try to structure your time when it comes to working on your essay (and everything else you are doing now). Just schedule a few hours just for the paper and hunker down you can get through it. Also, it seems like you took the advice from peer review to heart but make sure to go to SASC if you need another opinion. Good luck!