World Famous Comics: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
By: Anne Lamott Publisher: Pantheon Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Pantheon Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 237 Publication Date: May 05, 1994
Amazon.com: Think you've got a book inside of you? Anne Lamott isn't afraid to help you let it out. She'll help you find your passion and your voice, beginning from the first really crummy draft to the peculiar letdown of publication. Readers will be reminded of the energizing books of writer Natalie Goldberg and will be seduced by Lamott's witty take on the reality of a writer's life, which has little to do with literary parties and a lot to do with jealousy, writer's block and going for broke with each paragraph. Marvelously wise and best of all, great reading.
Product Description: "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.'"
With this basic instruction always in mind, Anne Lamott returns to offer us a new gift: a step-by-step guide on how to write and on how to manage the writer's life. From "Getting Started,' with "Short Assignments," through "Shitty First Drafts," "Character," "Plot," "Dialogue." all the way from "False Starts" to "How Do You Know When You're Done?" Lamott encourages, instructs, and inspires. She discusses "Writers Block," "Writing Groups," and "Publication." Bracingly honest, she is also one of the funniest people alive.
If you have ever wondered what it takes to be a writer, what it means to be a writer, what the contents of your school lunches said about what your parents were really like, this books for you. From faith, love, and grace to pain, jealousy, and fear, Lamott insists that you keep your eves open, and then shows you how to survive. And always, from the life of the artist she turns to the art of life.
"An inspiring book about writing as a way of finding the truth
-- San Francisco Chronicle
"Surpasses all the other books on writing already out there -- even the wonderful stuff by Natalie Goldberg, John Gardner, and Annie Dillard."
-- Seattle Times
"Well-written, funny, and useful." -- Denver Post
"I ended up reading it twice and expect to dip into it again in times of need. I recommend this book to other writers without reservation....This woman is uncanny."
-- Marie Winn, Wall Street Journal
"A quirky, personal, mordant, down-to-earth guide to fiction writing by a wonderful novelist essayist. Lamott makes writing seem like something you could actually enjoy."
You Need Broccoli Titles are important. I probably wouldn't have read a book entitled Some Instructions on Writing and Life, but I was captivated by one titled Bird by Bird. What could such a book tell me about life and writing? Whatever it was, the title itself held the promise of something fun, a little offbeat, and yes, instructive too. I wasn't wrong. This, to me, is one of the best books I've ever read about writing. Although I'm not a fiction writer, Lamott's wit and wisdom applies to me and to anyone else who's ever felt the desire to put pen to paper...or fingers to keyboard.
Everyone who reads Bird by Bird will find something to appreciate. I like the way Lamott shares such wonderful advice while sharing experiences from her life. Her love for her father, Sam, and Pammy are there; so are her impressions from the nursing home, the Special Olympics, school lunches, and the death of a five-month-old child. Sad but funny is the experience with her agent who said, "I'm sorry." Read it and you'll see what I mean.
Are there secrets to writing? Yes and no. Lamott credits the "secret" to Natalie Goldberg who, when someone asked her for the best possible writing advice she had to offer, held up a yellow legal pad, pretended her fingers held a pen, and scribbled away. When Lamott's students ask her that question, she picks up a piece of paper and pantomimes scribbling. In other words, just do it. Oh, and when you're scribbling away, remember that "Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor."
To give you an idea of Lamott's sense of humor, she quotes a friend who says that the first draft is the down draft because you focus on getting it down. The second is the up draft, the one that you fix it up. "And the third draft is dental draft, where you check very tooth, to see if it's loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy." Gotta love that!
For anyone tired of reading about dangling modifiers and pronoun agreement, read something refreshing like Bird by Bird. You'll be glad you did.
A great read Lamott tells it like it is. Don't expect any more than a shi**y first draft when writing a screenplay (one of the chapters is called "shi**y first drafts"). You polish it up on the second draft. Lamott is able to keep a writers expectations in check while also giving right motivation to finish a screenplay. I'd recommend this book to any writer.
Finally someone who tells it the way it really is!! I am a Christian and and writer, and Anne Lamott is the best I have found out there writing on both subjects. You might not agree with something she says but if you stop, think about it, really let it sink in, she usually hits it right on the mark. Reading her book has truly inspired me and helped me to continue to write against all odds. I am going right now to download another Anne Lamott book to my kindle.
"Bird By Bird" sings! I have enjoyed the book and think it is very well written, easy to understand and remember its concepts.
Inspiring book that makes you want to write Reading Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird makes me laugh, think, look at the world differently, and inspires me to want to sit down and write. She talks about writing as a way of expressing the truth, or at least, the truth as we see it. And gives me the courage to look at my own strengths, weaknesses, struggles and to try to transform it beyond the maudlin, to see it as applied to the Bigger Picture, whatever that is for each of us. She is also unafraid to talk about God, and has a sense of humour about life's hard-knocks.
The good thing is also that she doesn't try to say that writing is easy in any way. It is a discipline, and there will be good times and bad times, like everything else in life. But she gives some helpful tips on how to get out of the rut, and ultimately, how not to take ourselves too seriously.
Even if you are not someone interested in writing, this book is a worthwhile read because there are many nuggets of truth about life in here.
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