I find how Lamott describes the reality of writing a little unnerving. She describes her version of the writing process as “you can either type, or kill yourself. We all often feel like we are pulling teeth” (2). While her feelings towards the writing process are probably exaggerated and ironically probably took her a long time to come up with, she does bring up an interesting point. It brings up the question about if writers feel so much dread from writing, why do they still do it?
There’s an obvious answer in which writers enjoy their final product and the process after writing the first draft more than they hate writing the first draft.
However, there can also be the grass is greener on the other side effect happening to writers. Writers may see that the authors look up to have everything they could want; a distinguished name, a comfortable life, and appearances on talk shows. These writers may use their heroes to set goals and aspirations they want to achieve when they are still writing. This chance at fame and fortune probably helps some of the writers push through the agony of writing the first draft.
Another that she may feel like she has to continue as a writer is of their ego. In Lamott’s case, she had been a writer most of her life. If she stopped now, she may feel like a failure because she couldn’t write for her entire life. Some people would only see the end as the destination because of their mindset. For example, in if a 50-year marriage ended in divorce, society and scientific studies would see it as a failure. Both groups wouldn’t see that this marriage was successful for 50 years and only attribute the ending to the marriage. If a writer has this mindset, they may keep on writing so they don’t feel like a failure, even if they had significant successes as an author.
I believe that passion, dreams, and ego are the three main factors for authors to continue writing despite the horrors of the first draft that Lamott mentions. Also, if one of these traits is strong enough in a writer, they will write for as long as they can.