Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An essential volume for generations of writers young and old. The twenty-fifth anniversary edition of this modern classic will continue to spark creative minds for years to come. Anne Lamott is "a warm, generous, and hilarious guide through the writer’s world and its treacherous swamps" (Los Angeles Times).
“Superb writing advice…. Hilarious, helpful, and provocative.” —The New York Times Book Review
For a quarter century, more than a million readers—scribes and scribblers of all ages and abilities—have been inspired by Anne Lamott’s hilarious, big-hearted, homespun advice. Advice that begins with the simple words of wisdom passed down from Anne’s father—also a writer—in the iconic passage that gives the book its title:
“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, ‘Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.’”
“Superb writing advice…. Hilarious, helpful, and provocative.” —The New York Times Book Review
For a quarter century, more than a million readers—scribes and scribblers of all ages and abilities—have been inspired by Anne Lamott’s hilarious, big-hearted, homespun advice. Advice that begins with the simple words of wisdom passed down from Anne’s father—also a writer—in the iconic passage that gives the book its title:
“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, ‘Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.’”
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Community Reviews
The summary is: If you want to be a writer, practice your writing skills frequently and consistently. Don’t be a perfectionist - focus on writing quantity over quality. That’s the book!
A very well organized and thoughtful book about writing, Bird by Bird is geared more for fiction writers rather than non-fiction, but Lamott has plenty of excellent advice for writers of any genre. Lamott reassures writers who struggle to get their stories down in a logical, flowing manner that, guess what? Most of us write lousy first drafts. (She used a spicier word.)
She tells it like it is, from hoping and expecting wonderful reviews for your book but in fact getting panned by some and lauded by others; looking for and finding material in the world around you, infusing your work with meaning and purpose; and the disappointing truth that book publication in itself will not allow a writer to live happily ever after, as much as first-time authors might like to think.
Lamott is frequently self-deprecating, and can go on at almost tedious length about her anxiety over her own writing fortunes--whether her agent will love her new book or dealing with jealousy of more successful writers, even though she is poking fun at herself, it gets a bit much. But there is a great deal of wonderful and sage advice about creating a writing practice, developing characters and plot, and knuckling down and getting it down, even when you'd rather be procrastinating--again.
In her chapter called "Short Assignments," she advises not getting too far ahead of yourself in your writing, or where you think a story is taking you. She quotes E.L. Doctorow, who said, "Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way." Lamott continues: "You don't have to see where youre going, you don't have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you. This is right up there with the best advice about writing, or life, I have ever heard."
She tells it like it is, from hoping and expecting wonderful reviews for your book but in fact getting panned by some and lauded by others; looking for and finding material in the world around you, infusing your work with meaning and purpose; and the disappointing truth that book publication in itself will not allow a writer to live happily ever after, as much as first-time authors might like to think.
Lamott is frequently self-deprecating, and can go on at almost tedious length about her anxiety over her own writing fortunes--whether her agent will love her new book or dealing with jealousy of more successful writers, even though she is poking fun at herself, it gets a bit much. But there is a great deal of wonderful and sage advice about creating a writing practice, developing characters and plot, and knuckling down and getting it down, even when you'd rather be procrastinating--again.
In her chapter called "Short Assignments," she advises not getting too far ahead of yourself in your writing, or where you think a story is taking you. She quotes E.L. Doctorow, who said, "Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way." Lamott continues: "You don't have to see where youre going, you don't have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you. This is right up there with the best advice about writing, or life, I have ever heard."
Excellent read for gaining insight into writing. A lot of her anecdotes and advice can be translated past just the practice of writing.
I've been meaning to read this popular Anne Lamott book for quite some time. It reminds me a bit of Stephen King's On Writing (which I adore) because it weaves together practical writing advice along with stories of Ms. Lamott's life. It's both fanciful and charming. If you're looking for a step-by-step how-to book for writing, there are others that will fit the bill better. This is more of a journey with a friend where you sometimes awkwardly and sometimes beautifully discuss the things you love.
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