Tag Archives: Bird by Bird

Writing In Spite of Everything

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I gleaned a couple of basics from Anne Lamont’s book of writing advice, Bird for Bird. First and foremost, writing “is a matter of persistence and faith and hard work.” (7)

She also goes on to state that many readers “buy into the simplistic concepts of character and plot because it is much easier to embrace absolutes than to suffer reality, as reality is unforgivingly complex.” (104)

These two essential ideas aside, she does miss how the nucleus of the process is in the marvel of entering another realm, knowing something there and chittering at the edge of that, loving the moment for as long as it might last.

In other words, it’s essentially about having the etching tools and a place to set up.  

Ice Friday: Anne Lamott’s “Bird by Bird”

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Ms. Lamott’s advice to get started in writing, as offered in her book Bird by Bird, is to sit down and write. “Put a piece of paper in the typewriter, stare at it, and eventually you will write.” (6, Bird by Bird) IMG_4769As a rank amateur, I must disagree. Driving oneself through unnecessary anxiety is not only foolish, it is only also detrimental to the process.

Instead, I would recommend that one just relax, do whatever it is that gets the mind on a path – be this through walking, staring, drinking, watching nature videos – and when the idea comes, as it must, it must be noted however it can be set, through pen and paper or text messaging, and then set aside for a starting point. _MG_5015And later, with that in hand, is where to begin.