"Shitty First Drafts"

Anne Lamott is hilarious. I just have so much fun and enjoy reading her writing so much. Even though what she says is controversial and I bet that there are many people who frown on her, I think that she is intelligent and has a lot of good advice for writers.
I relate to a lot of what Lamott said in this essay. When she talked about sitting down and worrying about writing and thinking that she has nothing good to write, I was surprised that she feels the same way I do about writing. I always worry and get all anxious that I have nothing to write about and that I will never be able to write 3-5 pages on a certain topic. And I complain about it and put it off until the last minute and once I sit down at my computer and start typing, I find that I have more to say than I thought. I don't know why I feel this way seeing as it happens every time and I always tend to pull off a decent essay. It's those voices that Lamott talks about that are constantly in my head telling me that I am a horrible writer and that nothing I have to say is worth anybody's time reading. But deep down I know that this is not true yet I still listen to those stupid voices. It's weird how I can relate to someone who is so different from me. But I bet that lots of people do the same thing. I think it's part of human nature to justify yourself for every little thing you do.
I like how Lamott says to just put down anything that comes to mind at first and then go over it later. I think that my problem sometimes is that I get so caught up on the little things, like making one sentence sound perfect, that it trips me up and I can't move on. First drafts are only meant for the writer to see so you can write whatever you want. And more often than not, it's mostly good material written down that can be kept for the final draft. What I have to do is just turn off the negative voices in my head telling me that my writing is terrible and just write.