“Family and fellowship trump man’s inhumanity to man.”

So might the tweet have gone about The Grapes of Wrath if Twitter had been around in 1939. John Steinbeck might have added photos of the Joads to his Facebook page, and the blog would have revealed some of the thinking behind his Pulitzer Prize winner. “If you’re in trouble, or hurt or need,” he once said, “go to the poor people. They’re the only ones that’ll help – the only ones.”

But all that “social media” meant in Steinbeck’s day was having a drink with a reporter. My, how writing has changed over the past seven decades. Or has it?

Read Anne Lamott’s “Bird by Bird” and you’ll see very little has really changed besides the technology we use to communicate. The essence of good writing remains the same. Readers want a good story, which means action, conflict, dialogue, and all the rest – and they want it all done well.

Lamott walks you through the writing process step by step in Bird, which by the way is 17 years old itself. This how-to is at once instructive, amusing and inspiring. If you write, it will make you a better writer. If you read, it will make you a smarter reader.

Many lessons transcend writing. The title refers to her little brother’s 11th hour attempt to do a long report on birds. You can almost see the boy at the table, “close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds.” Lamott says her dad put an arm around his son and said, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”

That’s good advice anytime, but especially handy in the midst of the stressful holiday season.

The book is famous in writing circles. If you missed it and are trying to make it as a writer, go back and get a copy. It’s hard to imagine you won’t learn something. On developing a character, for instance, Lamott advises, “Squint at him in your mind, and then paint him for us.” Also, “one line of dialogue that rings true reveals character in a way that pages of description can’t.” And, ask how the character would “describe his current circumstances to a close friend, before and then after a few drinks.”

Steinbeck had the luxury to say, “Unless a reviewer has the courage to give you unqualified praise, I say ignore the bastard.” Most of us writers haven’t reached that lofty summit yet, so my advice is to read “Bird by Bird,” take notes, and see if you, too, agree this one deserves all five stars.