Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Anne Lamott is not a cheerleader, more like the Burgess Meredith with the water bottle and bucket in Rocky's corner between rounds -- I'm also guessing she wouldn't wilt if she had to slash your eye open if like Rocky it got sealed shut. She knows you are going to get hit hard, and she reminds you that you know it too. She tells you not to get distracted by that which doesn't matter to the process of writing. Much of this she learned from her father, who was also a career writer. He taught her it was the doing that mattered, not the surrounding mechanical functions that seem like they matter. What struck me repeatedly in Lamott's mini-lessons was her deep understanding of process -- that output of a work is not so much the full work itself, but an assembly of building blocks, one at a time, each a commitment, and only in totality something more. She does not advocate bonehead process or ridiculous formulaic mandate - this is not a how-to manual -- she just wants us to care about what we are doing and accomplish it in a series of heartfelt steps. There are no shortcuts, it's a little more each day, a continuum that adds up to a satisfying and cohesive whole. This is not breakthrough thinking, but it's a lesson we need to learn over and over, and it's not just about writing. Creative process is the heart of innovation. Think of all the elements that make the iPad great. If all the elements weren't great, it would not be great. Same with a restaurant menu and wine list. Same with an office skyscraper or memorial monument. Same with a short story, same with a novel. Summary impression rests in the details, all the many tiny parts or moments -- and all those details require hard thought and careful design. Lamott is smart about this, she tells you that getting it right is not going to happen out of the gate and unnerving strides at perfection can be your worst enemy. She has an excellent descriptor for the real quality of the first drafts to which we aspire. I'll let you discover that on your own so the word does not get scraped here. Her point is, just get the words out, work on making them better later, a layer at a time. She also allows us not to obsess unnecessarily with locking the full road map before we explore, because again that can impede our work. How far do we need to see ahead? "About two or three feet ahead of you" is plenty she tell us, quoting E.L. Doctorow: "..writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way." She says this is "right up there with the best advice about writing, or life, I have ever heard." I tend to agree. There is tremendous empathy in Lamott's world view, she offers a sense of shared experience that is reinforcing and comforting. Lamott talks about the imaginary radio station playing in your head -- another colorful descriptor I will let you discover -- that tells us over and over again why we can't do something, why the work we are doing is neither good nor worth doing. Learning to turn off that radio is our key to moving forward, we all hear it from time to time, but when it becomes perpetual, that is when our ability to create interesting work stops completely. Lamott is just so honest and clear about all the factors that stop us from moving forward because she not only has experienced them, she continues to experience them. She does not position herself as a guru or weekend seminar success evangelist, but simply as someone who can reflect on problems of creativity because she deals with problems of creativity endlessly in her own life. She is even more honest in telling us that no one can make these problems go away once and for all, certainly not with any form of temporal success. All we can do is know that these obstructions will always be there, so we must embrace confronting them. Sometimes it really is good to know that none of us are experiencing roadblocks on our own, the fact that someone like Lamott tells you she is experiencing what you are experiencing is precisely the empathy that builds strength and resistance because the experiences are shared, bad and good. Her humility is reinforcing and refreshing and uncompromisingly inspiring. "Bird by Bird" is not a long book, it can be read if you wish initially in a single sitting, but it is the kind of book you will find yourself coming back to for this chapter or that, this phrase or that. Lamott writes with good humor, even when she tackles very difficult and personal matters of her own life and those around her. The more I think about her framework, the more I am convinced it is much more broadly applicable then perhaps she even considered. I see the guidance as useful in company life, in financial life, in family life, in political life, and in government life. All of these require effective process to get them right, there are no shortcuts, and the rewards can be the smallest where the challenges are the greatest. That does not mean the rewards aren't meaningful, but it is the context of those rewards and the expectations that one sets for success that truly inform us when we are steering toward a final draft. Review excerpted from my blog: [...]

Some - because it's too many to list ALL - of reasons I loved Bird by Bird as a writer, an entrepreneur and a human being with stories to share and thoughts to voice - just like you. I wish I had read the Kindle version so I could highlight every chapter and re-read them later, but I got the physical book to add it to the small shelf of books I still keep in my office, and next to the copy of my most favorite book on the topic: On Writing by Stephen King. Bird by Bird is now the 2nd best and useful book I have read on writing. If I weren't inspired to write before, I felt my body fill up with reasons that now draw me to writing. If I had voices of doubt, the ones that slip into your head at 4am and whisper, "Who are you to write? What do you have to say that others want to read?", which I did, I am now courageous enough to ignore them. They don't go away but I can say, screw you, I'm writing anyway. I now can't not write and this feeling is one that I just can't put a price on. For that alone, I'm overjoyed. But there's more. For starters, it's the way she tells you to write about your childhood. It's the simplicity of this advice, and the way she just calls you to do it. I loved her just for that. Write about your childhood even if it was terrible, even if it was dark and lonely, for it shaped you into who you are and who you are is a unique voice for the world to hear. Okay I added all of that but she says it more beautifully and the gist of it says that thou must write about thy childhood especially when you do not know where to start. Make it a good story, turn the bad characters into a description that if they were to read your book, they would not recognize themselves except for their actions - that's apparently how you save yourself from libel - and then just write. I cried at various points in this book and the whole spiel about childhood was one of them, but the others were when she described why we write, and what brings us to the blank page, and how it's not about being published - and it really isn't, I've been published twice and my book has ranked among best-selling categories and sold thousands of copies and it was fun yes but writing is about so much more. If you weren't enough before you published, she quotes someone, then you won't be enough after, and that will stay with me. We all write for our own reasons, and if you feel drawn to writing, if you feel a call to writing and you have been resisting it, stop. Ignoring this urge is like neglecting hunger or thirst just because you are too stubborn to accept the laws of nature. Go with the flow, drop your excuses and write what you feel called upon to write. I also love the writing style of Bird by Bird. She does not break down writing into distinct categories and address each. She simply tells us stories and personal experience and her amazing nuggets of wisdom come through, just oozing out of the page. It is the stories that help you remember the bigger points she was making, and a very similar style as King's On Writing, which helps you learn not just about writing but about the writer's life and highs and lows and how writing integrates into their life, and the big picture. Bird by Bird is sweet, refreshing, funny, and even if Lamott over-dramatizes the life of an author - or perhaps, mine is under-dramatic, who knows - I love her for it. I love that she was oh so vulnerable, and how she dished out tough love and great advice and in the end, simply encouraged us to write. Just write those stories down and do it for reasons that go well beyond publication, fortune, fame, or other dreams that you may have for your writing, because writing is its own sweet delicious fulfilling reward. Add this book to your list of must-read books, my writer friends, and let's put our stories out in the world if not for anyone but ourselves.

In "Bird by Bird," Anne Lamott relates the growing pains felt by all fledgling writers, including herself at one time, and the importance of staying on course until the job of writing is done. The book is sown with plenty of humorous anecdotes, zany analogies and colorful metaphors - in short, the emblematic, original style of writing for which Anne Lamott is best known. "Bird by Bird" does not deviate from this signature style by drifting into territories of discussion about proper grammar, form and other pedestrian aspects of writing. She feathers her nest in a creative, engaging format, filling it with stories of her earlier days as a writer and interspersing them with tips and lessons learned along the way. There is no elitism in "Bird by Bird." Lamott demonstrates her humanness in the incidents she shares. When a friend calls to say that her book has been published readers will empathize with Lamott's natural feelings of jealousy and inferiority. When she ends up writing about those unpleasant emotions, the lesson becomes apparent that any topic - especially one that is universally felt, experienced and, therefore, understood - has the potential to be fashioned into the written form. Later on, the author reveals the anxiety and knuckle-cracking anticipation she experiences while awaiting feedback on a manuscript submission. It is impossible not to feel jitters of sympathy as we wait for the outcome to be revealed. For the most part, "Bird by Bird" covers the emotional and creative expanse experienced by the writer from the moment he first coaxes his work onto paper until such time that he deems it finished. Lamott reminds writers that aspiring to have their works published should not trump the sheer joy of writing for writing's sake. The book could prove a valuable addition for a writer who has already begun to see some positive affirmation and movement where his writing is concerned. For a beginner, however, this book might miss the mark due to its absence of writing fundamentals. Lamott does address this subject, however, in a general sense when she alludes to writers' groups and writers' workshops. The few flutters of grandstanding that occasionally manifest as Lamott tells her story seem more than justified; she deserves recognition, to be sure. Despite a thorny start, Lamott has arrived - observing, reflecting and, finally, writing it all down from her position in the catbird seat.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life endures not because it offers rigid writing instruction, but because it understands the emotional reality of trying to make art while remaining a functioning human being. Lamott approaches writing with humor, candor, and an unusual willingness to acknowledge the insecurity, vanity, paralysis, and vulnerability that often accompany creative work. What stands out most is the humanity of the book. The advice is practical, but the deeper value comes from the permission it gives writers to work imperfectly—to begin messily, doubt themselves, lose momentum, and continue anyway. Lamott treats creativity less as a performance of talent and more as a sustained relationship with attention, persistence, and emotional honesty. The prose itself mirrors the philosophy she advocates: conversational, alive, emotionally direct, and unconcerned with appearing overly polished. At times the tone can feel loose or anecdotal, but that looseness is also part of what makes the book feel companionable rather than instructional in a rigid sense. Beneath the warmth and humor is a serious understanding of observation. Again and again, Lamott returns to the importance of specificity, noticing, and telling the truth about experience without trying to force meaning prematurely. It’s ultimately less a manual on writing technique than a guide to surviving the psychological conditions required to keep writing at all.

Bird by Bird is Anne Lamott’s love song to the writing process and Anne Lamott’s detailed 12-step program for surviving the craft of writing. Using a loving and humorous voice, she shares intimate details of her experience as a writer, reader and teacher. She relies heavily on humorous stories from her childhood and early writing career to illustrate the pitfalls and joys of writing, while doling out a treasure chest of practical advice to the aspiring and experienced writer. Bird by Bird is a pep talk and a how-to guide to approaching writing as a life path. I’ve read this book many times over the years, and what I always remember most is her description of her relationship with her father, who was also a writer. More than anything Bird by Bird is a memoir, and the reason it has touched so many hearts and inspired so many careers, is because Anne Lamott wears her heart and her life story on her sleeve as she shares intimate and hard won life lessons on and off the page. She writes, “One of the things that happens when you give yourself permission to start writing is that you start thinking like a writer. You start seeing everything as material.” I love this line because it reminds me to give myself permission to be, to remember, to observe and to create. Like Anne Lamott, I grew up in the shadow of loving, charming and powerful writer. I learned the craft and life of a writer from my Mom, and it wasn’t until later in life that I realized that everyone didn’t grow up that way. Reading through with a highlighter this time, I was struck by all the voices Anne Lamott brings to the page. Lammott’s voice is primarily humorous, frank and self deprecating. When she wants to evoke something profound, grave or aspirational, she tends to lean on the voices of her favorite writers throughout the cannon, which she either paraphrases or quotes directly. I really admire this technique, it’s such a great way to vary her advice, give her message more credence while keeping the book in her voice. I want to remember this. There’s a nice example of this early on when she’s talking about what inspires someone to write, she writes, “Interviewers ask famous writers why they write, and it was (if I remember correctly) the poet John Ashbery who answered, “Because I want to.” Flannery O’Connnor answered, “Because I’m good at it,” and when the occasional interviewer asks me, I quote them both.” By bringing Ashbery and O’Connor into the conversation, Lammot elevates her personal experience to a universal truth. Another one of my favorite aspects of this guide / memoir is the realistic depiction of not only the writing but the publishing experience. She debunks every single romantic notion of writing – while carefully creating her own shrine to the experience. One of my favorite moments is when she breaks down any hope of a feeling of satisfaction for a writer. She perfectly sums up the endless aching and seeking inherent to the writing life. She writes: How do you know when you’re done? This is question my students always ask. I don’t quite know how to answer it. You just do. I think my students believe that when a published writer finishes something, she crosses the last t, pushes back from the desk, yawn, stretches, and smiles. I do not know anyone who has ever done this, not even once,” This excerpt makes me laugh out loud every time I read it. I think because in my experience as a publicist / publisher I do know some authors who have done this, and those are the ones I fear most. Honest, humorous and full of passion, this book separates the die-hards from the casual writers, it’s like a litmus test and hazing, and if you make it to the end you emerge a convert.

I’m on this rereading kick and also on a reading-books-about-writing kick and Bird by Bird, Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Anne Lamott, heads the list. Part writing guide, part life coaching session, and part true confessions, Bird by Bird is a delight for readers and writers alike. One summer, Lamott’s ten year-old brother had waited three months to begin a project on birds that was due the next day. Close to tears and unable to even move, he sat among his books and papers at the kitchen table. Lamott’s father, a writer and maybe Lamott’s favorite person ever, put an arm around his son and said, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.” The book is peppered with such sage advice while Lamott remains the quintessential social commenter and odd man out, full of more than a few stories of her life gone wrong. What makes her writing so enjoyable is the rough terrain she’s crossed to bring it to us through glimpses of her childhood and the rest of her life. Lamott shares some of her writing techniques such as sitting at her desk and staring at a small one-inch empty picture frame when she’s out of ideas. She watches that picture frame until something comes to her. Sometimes she gets up to make a phone call or eat a snack while the picture frame sits there as a reminder, but she always goes back to her chair and that picture frame. To be a writer, she tells her students, you have to sit your butt in a chair and not get up until you’ve written something no matter how long it takes or how terrible it is, and then you have to do that again the next day and the one after that. You may write four or five pages before you get one or two good paragraphs, she says, but keep at it. She encourages her students to reveal their most desperate fears and phobias and bring them to the surface for dissection and reassembly as literary gold. Unfortunately for Lamott, her worst moments have become her best prose. Take the most horrible school lunch ever and turn it into a brilliant comedic twist of events. Never miss and opportunity to go for your own jugular, but just flash the knife, don’t really cut your throat. In Lamott’s world, writing is therapy and since she’s taken some of the heaviest stuff of her life and exposed it, often with hilarity, to the sun and wind and elements where it can be alchemized, she’s become her own therapist. Or maybe she still needs therapy, but at least there’s a great story to be told. I question whether the pain and suffering is necessary for the craft or whether it just makes the writer more observant -- nothing like fear to sharpen the senses -- and hence, more readily able to translate those observations to the rest of the world. Once you’ve mined your childhood for all the despondency and suffering you can recall along with all the nasty characters that have wreaked havoc upon you, stick them between fictional pages for everyone to see, while being careful to obscure them so ingeniously through changes of place or time or hair color that no one will recognize themselves. Also, always give the male character a small penis. It cuts down on potential libel suits. These are your the tools of the trade, says Lamott. Your heartbreak, your inability to fit in, your desire to be part of another family, relationship, community, etc., one that obviously had it better than yours, and your unlimited ability to manipulate facts. Also, never miss an opportunity to capitalize on all your accumulated crap. If you are a writer, Bird by Bird will provide you with a step-by-step guide that will boost your writing by degrees, from s***ty first drafts to publication, but my guess is that Bird by Bird will help you with your life maybe just the teeniest bit more.

There seem to be as many books about how to write as there are actual writers, yet Anne Lamott makes a solid if not altogether inspiring contribution to the collection. Also known for her non-fiction books dealing with depression, Christianity, and alcoholism, in Bird by Bird author Lamott turns her humor and autobiographical lens toward offering sage advice and inspiration for writers of all levels. While far from Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, and mute on the meter of poetry and the tropes of science fiction, Lamott instead focuses more on psychological issues that confront and haunt writers from all genres, such as defeating the blank page, avoiding perfectionism obsessions, cranking out that first draft, and writing for the right reasons. A breadth of writing advice, Bird by Bird gets its title from wisdom Lamott's father once gave to her brother, incapacitated by the task of writing a school essay on birds. The senior Lamott advised the younger to break the assignment down into manageable chunks: "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird." Divided into five parts, in part one Lamott first addresses writing itself -- getting words onto the page. Lamott starts by giving the aspiring author permission to write and then by encouraging the author to just get the words onto the page. Go ahead, just create that first, messy draft: "Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere." She then suggests focusing more on creating compelling characters than worrying about plot: "If you focus on who the people in your story are, if you sit and write about two people you know and are getting to know better day by day, something is bound to happen." She even discusses a short story template -- action, background, development, climax, ending -- that can be used as an initial story structure. Dialog is important too, and compelling dialog can be influenced by real-life encounters, but the main goal is to get that first draft written, in short steps, a little each day. In part Two Lamott talks about the writing frame of mind -- about how authors can psyche themselves into writing using rituals at the beginning of each writing session and by believing in the stories they are telling. Part Three presents specific tools authors can use to help recall memorable quotes and scenes, how to collect new material, and how to gain feedback on drafts, such as using index cards on which to jot down ideas, joining or forming writing groups and sending drafts to a short-list of people an author trusts to give honest and useful feedback, and overcoming writer's block by refilling the author's emptiness through short exercises just to get the fingers moving. In part Four Lamott talks about the publication process and why an author simply giving herself to the writing act in and of itself is often the best reward: "There is no cosmic importance to your getting something published, but there is in learning to be a giver." Part Five contains final words of wisdom and encouragement for the budding author. For example, an author should not hesitate to use experiences from their childhood (and tips are given on how to avoid libel when using autobiographical material). Overall, rather than being the strict writing schoolmarm, Lamott is more like a writing companion. She chats over your shoulder with you at the end of the day, sipping a glass of wine, reflecting on her own experiences in the writing trenches, and sharing what worked for her in achieving success. Her advice is true and her voice is encouraging -- she uses self-deprecating humor to convince any reader that their writing anguish is neither new nor unique since Lamott herself has likely already confronted and conquered those same demons. She persevered and achieved success, and the reader of her book too shall overcome and get their story onto the page. She mentions God throughout, but she does not come across as preachy. Again, she's relating what worked for her, using anecdotes from memorable episodes in her life. There's no magic and no divine inspiration to solve writing problems--she uses real techniques and encouragement to help confront and conquer the blank page. Indeed, we can all use encouragement and insights from someone who's already been there. Like the oft-repeated "Practice, practice, practice" response by legendary pianist Arthur Rubinstein when he was stopped on a street in New York and was asked, "Pardon me sir, how do you get to Carnegie Hall?", Lamott's response to writers in Bird by Bird is just as wise and true, but perhaps even more motivational due to her humor and honest expression from the trenches.

I'll start this review by stating that I'm not an aspiring novelist, at least at the moment. A hearty recommendation prompted me to read this book, though I had only a cursory idea of the subject matter. At a time when it seems that only raving praise or apoplectic hate receive meaningful attention, stating that something is only okay or average feels especially hostile. Unfortunately I must admit that was my finding of this book, that it was a middle of the road, if not totally unexceptional, experience that elicited little in the way of strong responses. Let me be clear: there is value in this book especially for the would-be writer looking for advice, try a sample to feel this book out and don't let my ambivalence scare you off. The positives should probably come first, right? The author is clearly passionate about the subject and it doesn't matter what the topic happens to be, when the writer cares about the topic it immediately makes the book more enjoyable to read. Ms. Lamott's writing is straightforward and honest and I appreciate that immensely. Another book I was reading concurrently too often felt pedantic and by comparison this one did not reek of this stench one bit. The author is perhaps overly generous in her use of quotes, but they're not cloying as if to convince you that she should be taken seriously. Instead these quotations are offered as useful pearls of wisdom. I come from a world of academia where too many quotations tend to be frowned upon, but you may like them so chalk this up to my own biases. While Ms. Lamott doesn't suffocate you with her qualifications, she is entirely within her rights to do so. I say this to illustrate the following point: if you are willing, this book can help you with something. As I said, I'm not looking to publish a novel, article or really anything but there are suggestions and advice that apply beyond the page. I count this as the book's main strength and what keeps it from being entirely forgettable. A challenge I often face, like any writers reading this review, is just getting started and the exhortation offered by the author was so true that I cannot help but to think of the help it will give me. The book is also humble, it doesn't get convoluted and I think avoiding that pitfall deserves praise. The negatives, specific to me perhaps, start with the sense that I found the description of writing and the writing process too mystical. Maybe this too irritates nerves made too sensitive by years of academic rather than creative writing, but if I were looking for advice on a finishing a short story the encouragement to "listen to my characters" would seem silly to me. I understand that the author can only relay what has been helpful to her but it at times seems overly caught up with the love affair of writing as opposed to more substantive things a person can try. Secondly, the tendency just mentioned all too often takes up more space than what seems to be needed and the book is consequently longer than it felt like it needed to be. Overall, I found this book to be a solid middle-of-the-road experience. I wouldn't dismiss it totally but I found myself having to look the other way on several occasions. That maybe speaks more to my background than anything else and if you are a fan of the author please don't take it that I'm trying to tarnish her work in any way. Really, I guess this review is more geared to the person like me who is perhaps not a writer in the sense envisaged by this book. Maybe you are being recommended at this very instant to pick up a copy and maybe, like me, you're somewhat skeptical. To this hypothetical person I say this: it is worth reading even if the starry-eyed expressions get a little trite after a while. I would argue that this is a bit of high praise by itself, it isn't too often that somebody would say that a generally average book is worth the time it takes to read it. I think that's worth something, maybe about as much as this book.

The book talks to every person and it befriends every writer. The author Anne Lammot tells her students to plug their nose, jump in, and write. She writes about the fears, the slack, the disinterest, the “am I having cancer or mental illness” phase, all phases a writer can go through to keep at writing on his or her desk. After every chapter I took down points in my notebook. Apart from addressing writers, the author in her foreword says the book is a narrative of her take on life. A must read book. 📕 It is very interesting, insightful and filled with practical advice.

Sobre los libros, cada persona con sus gustos. Acabo de empezar, así que una opinión ahora no sirve de mucho, pero hasta adonde he llegado, me ha encantado. El lenguaje de la autora, y la mezcla de realidad con optimismo es una forma de abrir los ojos, no olvidar lo que quieres hacer sin perderte en fantasías que harán la realidad muy dura. Estoy segura de que me va a gustar hasta el final. Sus toques de humor me han enganchado.

A classic - funny, insightful, and a keeper. No wonder Bird By Bird is a recommended read in writing programs the world over.

I love the approach to aspiring writers ... Anne is homest and love the story telling ... Yes we all have a stor. I am reading to write science and is working for me so I am for writing facta and it is taking me trhough a great journey ... Thank you Anne!

It's a sincere essay on why we may find it hard to write some times. Sincerity is really valuable in a book on a topic like this, it means that even if you can't relate to everything that's written on it at a literal level, it will connect with you through your feelings as a struggling human being in front of a daunting task, which in this case, is writing something. It's an enjoyable read and by no means it has made me an expert writer, but I'm sure I learnt something and you don't get to say that every day.