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I grew up around a father and a mother who read every chance they got, who took is to the library every Thursday night to load up on books for the coming week.  | |
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…getting all of one’s addictions under control is a little like putting an octopus to bed.  ...perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor.  I understood immediately the thrill of seeing oneself in print. It provides some sort of primal verifications. You are; therefore you exist.  If you find that you start a number of stories or pieces that you don't even bother finishing, that you lose interest or faith in them along the way, it may be that there is nothing at their center about which you care passionately.
 …if you are writing the clearest, truest words you can find and doing the best you can to understand and communicate, this will shine on paper like its own little lighthouse.”  | |
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▾Common Knowledge (short form) | Canonical title | Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life | | Original publication date | 1994-05-05 | | Awards and honors | ALA Outstanding Books for the College Bound (2004.3|Literature & Language Arts, 2004) | | First words | I grew up around a father and a mother who read every chance they got, who took is to the library every Thursday night to load up on books for the coming week. | | Quotations | …getting all of one’s addictions under control is a little like putting an octopus to bed. , ...perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor., I understood immediately the thrill of seeing oneself in print. It provides some sort of primal verifications. You are; therefore you exist., If you find that you start a number of stories or pieces that you don't even bother finishing, that you lose interest or faith in them along the way, it may be that there is nothing at their center about which you care passio... (show all)nately. , …if you are writing the clearest, truest words you can find and doing the best you can to understand and communicate, this will shine on paper like its own little lighthouse.” | | Last words | (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)You can't stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship. | | Description | I found this book in a library after my life fell apart one rainy day in California. I thought the writing was so clean and simple and straight forward and funny that I almost cried with happiness. Telling the truth is really... (show all) hard, but writing the truth is almost impossible. After that day, I went back to college for a few decades...so glad I did. |
▾LibraryThing members' description
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I found this book in a library after my life fell apart one rainy day in California. I thought the writing was so clean and simple and straight forward and funny that I almost cried with happiness. Telling the truth is really hard, but writing the truth is almost impossible. After that day, I went back to college for a few decades...so glad I did.  | |
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▾Book descriptions
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.
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:57:54 -0400) (see all 2 descriptions) ▾Open Shelves Classification The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details.
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However, this book did not fill me with the heaping piles of inspiration that other writing books have in the past. Some part of me is now filled with the newfound fear that I am neither brave enough nor honest enough to churn out truly excellent fiction. But in the end, perhaps that's not really the point. After all, if you're not writing because you want to write - if you just want to be published and receive all the attention and reassurance that you believe it brings (which it really doesn't) - then maybe you should be rethinking this whole writing thing. To the artist, the creation of the art, however anxiety-ridden or frustrating or exhausting the process may be at times, is its own reward. Sure, it may never be published and nobody but your family may ever read it, but you still can change lives. Maybe even your own. (