Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (edition 1995)

This is pretty funny stuff. A quick read with good advice for the novice writer. If you've read a lot of writing books, there's not a whole lot that's new here, but its so charmingly told you'll blast through it quickly with a smile on your face. :) ( )

This book saves me the trouble of attending a writers workshop. I am going to assume that reading Anne Lamott is like listening to her talk, only I am permitted to be in my jammers and not sit for hours in uncomfortable chairs at the VFW.

recommended for: writers and readers

This is an enjoyable read and a lovely book. Anne Lamott is a very engaging writer and she is very funny, honest, and heartfelt. Although I don’t desire to be a writer, like most readers I’ve wanted to be a writer at times in my life. I took to heart her advice that at some point one has to decide whether to be a reader or a writer, a choice I’d made but it solidified my decision for me. The “bird by bird” philosophy espoused in this book can apply to all endeavors, not just the one of writing. ( )

Bird By Bird is less a book about writing techniques and more a writer speaking to other writers and telling them that it's okay. All of it. All their neuroses and hang ups and setbacks. It's okay. Just take it word by word (bird by bird). I don't think I learned much from it, but just having someone say it's okay to me for two hundred and thirty-seven pages was good. There is some good advice in there about how to start writing a scene you don't know about, how to let your characters develop, how to deal with criticism, how to pull ideas out of the melting pot that is memory. There's a piece of advice that I just love and might have to try some day: write a book for your favourite author. I don't know what I'll write for Susan Cooper or Ursula Le Guin or Guy Gavriel Kay, but I know I want to try writing for them.

Anne Lamott writes understandingly, in a way that will make you smile wryly and -- in places -- probably make you want to cry. It may not teach you anything beyond it's okay, and you might find that even that you know, but her writing is lovely and worth reading anyway. I've never read any of her novels, but I definitely recommend reading this. ( )

An easy to read, pleasant book about how to begin writing, pitfalls you will face when writing and why you must write. ( )