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j3r3's review against another edition
4.0
Great read
This is an excellent book. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s really like to be a writer or thought about writing yourself read this book!
This is an excellent book. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s really like to be a writer or thought about writing yourself read this book!
backpackfullofbooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
medium-paced
3.5
anetherealpursuit's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.5
bedwinnjamin's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.25
A very quaint book on how to put together a story, and everything that goes on between and around that attempt. I really enjoyed it, it's been very nice to collect different people's experience of writing and trying to get published, or if that even is the goal. Having an author literally ask the reader questions and then give their own life experience. Thank you for your teachings Anne Lamott
sage3's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Ok yummmm
Don't want to be a writer but was good
Idk
Read it pretty quick too
Don't want to be a writer but was good
Idk
Read it pretty quick too
rkking's review against another edition
4.0
Among the many writing craft books out there, there are a great number of them that double as personal memoirs. The most famous one of course is Stephen King's On Writing. In that vein, Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott tells a deeply personal life story by the writer, accompanied by her own approaches to the writerly existence. While a lot of it can be so personal as to feel like it fails to cater to other writers, there are some real gems in here.
The biggest one for me is in regards to the title. As a writer I often compare the craft to these lofty ideals which I constantly fail to measure up to. Lamott does a great job of describing writing in a much more accessible way. It's a craft, like any other. Take it a day at a time; bird by bird.
Join the RK King Readers' Tribe for an exclusive FREE short story, plus inside info, musings, promos and more: RK King Writes
The biggest one for me is in regards to the title. As a writer I often compare the craft to these lofty ideals which I constantly fail to measure up to. Lamott does a great job of describing writing in a much more accessible way. It's a craft, like any other. Take it a day at a time; bird by bird.
Join the RK King Readers' Tribe for an exclusive FREE short story, plus inside info, musings, promos and more: RK King Writes
rachreadreview's review against another edition
emotional
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.5
4.5/5
- I read this book about one million years ago during undergrad for one of my writing classes (hence the “used” sticker, coffee mug stain on the cover, and my hilariously bad undergrad annotations that were fun to re-read). I remember it pretty vividly because I started the class two weeks late - I had been in a five-hour organic chemistry lab, still thinking I wanted to become a doctor when I realized: “wow, I don’t want to do this anymore.” So, with the lab dropped and another English class added, I was told I’d need to read about 3/4 of this book ASAP in order to catch up with the rest of my class. Not a great start, since I was already reading probably fifteen things for other classes. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I flew through this book for the first time. This re-read was no different.
- This book is full of solid advice for both writing and life, such as (an incomplete list):
- Have a set writing schedule where you sit down at the same time every day or night and pretty soon habit/muscle memory will kick in
- Do short assignments, write only what fits in a one-inch long paragraph
- Write “shitty first drafts” - no one is going to see them and it’s always better just to get things down. In that same vein: forget about perfectionism, it’ll only freeze you up
- Let your characters drive the plot and not the other way around, they control what happens, you’re basically just taking notes
- Take notes about everything you see and hear - you never know what might be useful
- Consider writing groups, or just friends to read your drafts to get a fresh opinion. Also, read your dialogue out-loud for flow
- And probably most importantly: just take things “bird by bird,” or one step at a time. Break big tasks and ideas down into smaller, manageable bits
- I read this book about one million years ago during undergrad for one of my writing classes (hence the “used” sticker, coffee mug stain on the cover, and my hilariously bad undergrad annotations that were fun to re-read). I remember it pretty vividly because I started the class two weeks late - I had been in a five-hour organic chemistry lab, still thinking I wanted to become a doctor when I realized: “wow, I don’t want to do this anymore.” So, with the lab dropped and another English class added, I was told I’d need to read about 3/4 of this book ASAP in order to catch up with the rest of my class. Not a great start, since I was already reading probably fifteen things for other classes. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I flew through this book for the first time. This re-read was no different.
- This book is full of solid advice for both writing and life, such as (an incomplete list):
- Have a set writing schedule where you sit down at the same time every day or night and pretty soon habit/muscle memory will kick in
- Do short assignments, write only what fits in a one-inch long paragraph
- Write “shitty first drafts” - no one is going to see them and it’s always better just to get things down. In that same vein: forget about perfectionism, it’ll only freeze you up
- Let your characters drive the plot and not the other way around, they control what happens, you’re basically just taking notes
- Take notes about everything you see and hear - you never know what might be useful
- Consider writing groups, or just friends to read your drafts to get a fresh opinion. Also, read your dialogue out-loud for flow
- And probably most importantly: just take things “bird by bird,” or one step at a time. Break big tasks and ideas down into smaller, manageable bits