Debbie's review
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
by Anne Lamott
Debbie's review
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
Debbie's review
rating:
recommended for: Amy's sister, Cricket
I think I read this in about 2000. I had just decided to get back into writing. Driving home early on a Friday, I heard Terry Gross interviewing Ann Lamott about this book. What she said made sense to me. I drove to Barnes and Noble and bought it.
This was the first book I ever read that gave me permission to write shitty (her word) first drafts. What a relief. You mean it doesn't have to be perfect the first time through? Or the second? Or even the third?
Another notion I got from Bird By Bird was the idea of one-inch snapshots. Don't worry about writing the whole book right now. Worry about this scene, this one-inch snapshot as it were. I used to have a whiteboard in my cubicle at work. I drew a one-inch square on it. Nobody else knew what it was for, but it kept me focused.
I suppose if you've read other writing books, you've already been exposed to all the ideas here. But since it was my first, this was one epiphany after another. I highly recommend it.
This was the first book I ever read that gave me permission to write shitty (her word) first drafts. What a relief. You mean it doesn't have to be perfect the first time through? Or the second? Or even the third?
Another notion I got from Bird By Bird was the idea of one-inch snapshots. Don't worry about writing the whole book right now. Worry about this scene, this one-inch snapshot as it were. I used to have a whiteboard in my cubicle at work. I drew a one-inch square on it. Nobody else knew what it was for, but it kept me focused.
I suppose if you've read other writing books, you've already been exposed to all the ideas here. But since it was my first, this was one epiphany after another. I highly recommend it.
