Picture of author.
32+ Works 29,034 Members 693 Reviews 131 Favorited

About the Author

Anne Lamott was born on April 10, 1954 in San Francisco, California. She began writing when she returned to California after spending two years at Goucher College, but her early efforts, mostly short stories, met with little success. The turning point in her writing came with a family crisis, when show more her father was diagnosed with brain cancer. She wrote a series of short pieces about the traumatic effect that serious illness has on a family. These pieces were published, and they eventually became the basis of her first novel, Hard Laughter, published in 1980. During the 1980s, she wrote three additional novels, Rosie, Joe Jones and All New People. In 1989, her life took another turn when her son was born. Her next book, published in 1993, was a non-fiction effort called Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year. She wrote ironically, but candidly, about her struggles to adjust to her new role as a mother and a single parent, and her experiences with everything from sleep deprivation to financial and emotional uncertainty to concerns about what she would tell her son when he was old enough to ask about his absent father. Operating Instructions proved to be even more successful than her novels, and led to interviews on network news programs and a regular spot on National Public Radio. Her other works include Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life; Crooked Little Heart; Blue Shoe, Imperfect Birds, and Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son. Her title Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2012. Her title Stitches: A Handbook on Meaning, Hope and Repair and Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace also made The New York Times Best Seller List. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Anne Lamott.

Series

Works by Anne Lamott

Blue Shoe (2002) 1,237 copies
Crooked Little Heart (2011) 924 copies
Imperfect Birds (2010) 659 copies
Rosie (1983) 631 copies
Hard Laughter (1980) 499 copies

Associated Works

A Velocity of Being: Letters to a Young Reader (2018) — Contributor — 234 copies
The Best Spiritual Writing 1998 (1998) — Contributor — 101 copies
Autumn: A Spiritual Biography of the Season (2004) — Contributor — 57 copies

Tagged

Anne Lamott (153) anthology (59) autobiography (176) biography (251) books about books (66) Christian (124) Christian living (97) Christianity (397) creativity (71) essays (665) faith (579) family (135) favorites (58) fiction (814) goodreads (62) Grace (59) humor (394) inspiration (74) inspirational (97) Kindle (63) Lamott (97) literature (71) memoir (1,209) motherhood (63) non-fiction (1,898) novel (120) on writing (65) own (120) parenting (191) prayer (122) read (303) reference (116) religion (660) self-help (68) spiritual (62) spirituality (756) to-read (1,204) unread (114) women (102) writing (2,103)

Common Knowledge

Birthdate
1954-04-10
Gender
female
Nationality
USA
Birthplace
San Francisco, California, USA
Places of residence
San Francisco, California, USA
Fairfax, California, USA
Education
Drew College Preparatory School
Occupations
author
novelist
writer
Relationships
Lamott, Sam (son)
Awards and honors
Guggenheim Fellowship (1985)
Agent
Steven Barclay Agency (12 Western Avenue • Petaluma, California • 94952)
Short biography
Born in San Francisco, Anne Lamott is the author of five novels and three works of nonfiction, and the recipient of a Guggenheim fellowship. She has been a book reviewer for Mademoiselle, a restaurant critic for California magazine, and a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. She also writes a popular column for the on-line magazine Salon, which Time magazine noted "could alone be the Best of the Web." Anne Lamott lives in northern California with her son, Sam.

Members

Reviews

Writing is lonely. So whenever I start a new project, I look for a book about it I haven’t read yet. It’s like having a sympathetic friend holding my hand, reassuring me.
Somehow, the book I choose is precisely what I need. Well, that’s not always true, but when it’s not, I quickly spot it and move on to another. But this one filled the bill. It came out thirty years ago, but I only recently became aware of it, although I remember hearing her spots on NPR way back when.
Lamott’s advice in this book is sensible, even if little of it is new. It’s not a problem; I need to hear it all again with each new project. And I’ve never read it in such a humorous, self-deprecating manner. She and her friends sound like a lovable, walking collective of personality disorders (I think those are really her words, but right now, I can’t find the quote). Somehow, they keep each other’s spirits up.
She is honest about the rivalry and jealousy writers experience. She also makes it clear (repeatedly) that publication is not the main reason to write, much less the gateway to fixing everything wrong in your life. If, toward the end, her reporting of her neuroses wears thin through repetition, along the way, there are descriptions of it that had me laughing out loud.
This book helped me get through the first five days of a new project, allowing me to make a solid start. Thank you, Anne, for being there.
… (more)
 
Flagged
HenrySt123 | 237 other reviews | Jan 31, 2024 |
Absolutely charming, but stale and a little oblivious.
 
Flagged
ethorwitz | 237 other reviews | Jan 3, 2024 |
I so identify with every small feeling and anxiety she has about herself and others that I'm almost ready to sign up for her support groups and church suppers. The insights into writing and ego and truth reflected and articulated here are so authentic that it seems like revealed truth, like truth I already knew. It also made me feel extremely neurotic.
 
Flagged
jennifergeran | 237 other reviews | Dec 23, 2023 |
This book is over-rated. I can see why this book is so popular, but Lamott just tries too hard to be funny. Her two key concepts, working with small assignments and producing shitty first drafts, are valuable, although most working writers figure them out on their own.

Honestly, I enjoyed the prologue more than the rest of the book.
 
Flagged
LizzK | 237 other reviews | Dec 8, 2023 |

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Awards

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Statistics

Works
32
Also by
15
Members
29,034
Popularity
#687
Rating
3.9
Reviews
693
ISBNs
246
Languages
6
Favorited
131

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