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4.19 AVERAGE
4.19 AVERAGE
This is a book to writers, but I think also to lovers of the written word. Anne Lamott is a publish writer and now a teacher. After teaching writing classes for years she wrote down her best advice about writing in this book.
Along with practical advice (just sit your ass down and write everyday) she gives stories and funny observations about life and her writing process. She cuts any aspiring writer down at the knees by telling us that we won’t be famous or rich, but she paints over those words without something more beautiful. Writing isn’t about fame and recognition. Writing is both personal and inspirational. We write because we have something to say. We write because we pay attention or have to work through our own shit. We write because there is beauty and pain in the world and we want to share just a slice of our experience. We write because we want others to feel seen or recognize their own experiences and feel a bit less alone. We write to shine just a little beam of light into an otherwise dark world.
Every step along the way made me want to run to my computer. Then I wanted to go to work every day just to be part of society and observe people-their mannerisms and dialogue. She turned me, an already attentive individual, into a sponge that started noticing more.
In the middle of writing a memoir she got me unstuck by inspiring creativity. I want to own a paper copy of this book and underline it and carry it around until the pages are frayed and worn. This book was everything I needed and put me in a realistic head space and clarified who my audience is.
10/10 recommend!!!!!
Along with practical advice (just sit your ass down and write everyday) she gives stories and funny observations about life and her writing process. She cuts any aspiring writer down at the knees by telling us that we won’t be famous or rich, but she paints over those words without something more beautiful. Writing isn’t about fame and recognition. Writing is both personal and inspirational. We write because we have something to say. We write because we pay attention or have to work through our own shit. We write because there is beauty and pain in the world and we want to share just a slice of our experience. We write because we want others to feel seen or recognize their own experiences and feel a bit less alone. We write to shine just a little beam of light into an otherwise dark world.
Every step along the way made me want to run to my computer. Then I wanted to go to work every day just to be part of society and observe people-their mannerisms and dialogue. She turned me, an already attentive individual, into a sponge that started noticing more.
In the middle of writing a memoir she got me unstuck by inspiring creativity. I want to own a paper copy of this book and underline it and carry it around until the pages are frayed and worn. This book was everything I needed and put me in a realistic head space and clarified who my audience is.
10/10 recommend!!!!!
I’ve heard so many good things about Bird by Bird over the years, and now that I’ve read it, I can confidently say it lives up to the hype. This book is funny, poignant, sincere, and clever. It's very inspiring and refreshingly honest.
What struck me most was how Lamott weaves her personal experiences into her writing advice. She doesn’t just offer tips—she tells stories that illustrate her lessons, making them stick. Her prose is clear and purposeful.
Beyond the practical advice, the book inspires. Lamott reminded me that writing isn’t just about the end product; it’s a process deeply tied to life. Bird by Bird offers insights and encouragement that are hard to find elsewhere.
I highly recommend that everyone read this book.
Quotes (so many to choose!):
"One can find in writing a perfect focus for life. It offers challenge and delight and agony and commitment. We see our work as a vocation, with the potential to be as rich and enlivening as the priesthood. As a writer, one will have over the years many experiences that stimulate and nourish the spirit. These will be quiet and deep inside, however, unaccompanied by thunder or tremulous angels."
“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.”
“Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul."
"Write straight into the emotional center of things. Write toward vulnerability. Risk being unliked. Tell the truth as you understand it. If you’re a writer you have a moral obligation to do this. And it is a revolutionary act—truth is always subversive.”
“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.”
“Because this business of becoming conscious, of being a writer, is ultimately about asking yourself, How alive am I willing to be?”
“If you want to make God laugh, tell her your plans.”
“Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”
“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should've behaved better.”
“I don't think you have time to waste not writing because you are afraid you won't be good at it.”
“If you are a writer, or want to be a writer, this is how you spend your days--listening, observing, storing things away, making your isolation pay off. You take home all you've taken in, all that you've overheard, and you turn it into gold. (Or at least you try.)”
“Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul.”
“Writing is about hypnotizing yourself into believing in yourself, getting some work done, then unhypnotizing yourself and going over the material coldly.”
“My gratitude for good writing is unbounded; I’m grateful for it the way I’m grateful for the ocean.”
“Toni Morrison said, "The function of freedom is to free someone else," and if you are no longer wracked or in bondage to a person or a way of life, tell your story. Risk freeing someone else. Not everyone will be glad that you did. Members of your family and other critics may wish you had kept your secrets. Oh, well, what are you going to do? Get it all down. Let it pour out of you and onto the page. Write an incredibly shitty, self-indulgent, whiny, mewling first draft. Then take out as many of the excesses as you can.”
“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people.”
“Becoming a better writer is going to help you become a better reader, and that is the real payoff.”
“If you’re not enough before the gold medal, you won’t be enough with it.”
“How alive am I willing to be?”
“For me and most of the other writers I know, writing is not rapturous. In fact, the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts.”
“This is our goal as writers, I think; to help others have this sense of—please forgive me—wonder, of seeing things anew, things that can catch us off guard, that break in on our small, bordered worlds.”
“Remember that you own what happened to you.”
“I get up. I walk. I fall down. Meanwhile, I keep dancing.”
“You can’t stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship.”
"Try to remember that to some extent, you’re just the typist. A good typist listens.”
“I wish there were an easier, softer way, a shortcut, but this is the nature of most good writing: that you find out things as you go along.”
What struck me most was how Lamott weaves her personal experiences into her writing advice. She doesn’t just offer tips—she tells stories that illustrate her lessons, making them stick. Her prose is clear and purposeful.
Beyond the practical advice, the book inspires. Lamott reminded me that writing isn’t just about the end product; it’s a process deeply tied to life. Bird by Bird offers insights and encouragement that are hard to find elsewhere.
I highly recommend that everyone read this book.
Quotes (so many to choose!):
"One can find in writing a perfect focus for life. It offers challenge and delight and agony and commitment. We see our work as a vocation, with the potential to be as rich and enlivening as the priesthood. As a writer, one will have over the years many experiences that stimulate and nourish the spirit. These will be quiet and deep inside, however, unaccompanied by thunder or tremulous angels."
“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.”
“Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul."
"Write straight into the emotional center of things. Write toward vulnerability. Risk being unliked. Tell the truth as you understand it. If you’re a writer you have a moral obligation to do this. And it is a revolutionary act—truth is always subversive.”
“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.”
“Because this business of becoming conscious, of being a writer, is ultimately about asking yourself, How alive am I willing to be?”
“If you want to make God laugh, tell her your plans.”
“Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”
“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should've behaved better.”
“I don't think you have time to waste not writing because you are afraid you won't be good at it.”
“If you are a writer, or want to be a writer, this is how you spend your days--listening, observing, storing things away, making your isolation pay off. You take home all you've taken in, all that you've overheard, and you turn it into gold. (Or at least you try.)”
“Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul.”
“Writing is about hypnotizing yourself into believing in yourself, getting some work done, then unhypnotizing yourself and going over the material coldly.”
“My gratitude for good writing is unbounded; I’m grateful for it the way I’m grateful for the ocean.”
“Toni Morrison said, "The function of freedom is to free someone else," and if you are no longer wracked or in bondage to a person or a way of life, tell your story. Risk freeing someone else. Not everyone will be glad that you did. Members of your family and other critics may wish you had kept your secrets. Oh, well, what are you going to do? Get it all down. Let it pour out of you and onto the page. Write an incredibly shitty, self-indulgent, whiny, mewling first draft. Then take out as many of the excesses as you can.”
“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people.”
“Becoming a better writer is going to help you become a better reader, and that is the real payoff.”
“If you’re not enough before the gold medal, you won’t be enough with it.”
“How alive am I willing to be?”
“For me and most of the other writers I know, writing is not rapturous. In fact, the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts.”
“This is our goal as writers, I think; to help others have this sense of—please forgive me—wonder, of seeing things anew, things that can catch us off guard, that break in on our small, bordered worlds.”
“Remember that you own what happened to you.”
“I get up. I walk. I fall down. Meanwhile, I keep dancing.”
“You can’t stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship.”
"Try to remember that to some extent, you’re just the typist. A good typist listens.”
“I wish there were an easier, softer way, a shortcut, but this is the nature of most good writing: that you find out things as you go along.”
3.5/5 stars.
A little outdated, but contains some good advice. It's quick to read, but sometimes I found myself skimming portions that I wasn't as interested in.
A little outdated, but contains some good advice. It's quick to read, but sometimes I found myself skimming portions that I wasn't as interested in.
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
Part writing advice, part memoir. It read quickly. I think the memoir aspect helped to round out the writing advice and bring home the stories and advice about writing.
The advice is solid but dated. Get a book that lists agents, and write to them. 😂 Fax writing samples.
Enjoyable read, particularly if you want to start writing.
The advice is solid but dated. Get a book that lists agents, and write to them. 😂 Fax writing samples.
Enjoyable read, particularly if you want to start writing.
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
This is a book for writers by a writer who uses her life experience to try to give us a glimpse of that elusive condition all writers live in.
It is a popular, beloved?, book and cited by many as transformative.
You will have to make up your own mind, as books like this are quite personal.
You may love it, you may not, you may not even be able to finish it.
If you’re looking more practical instruction on the techniques of fiction writing I would recommend: Creative Writing 10th Edition by Janet Burroway.
It is a popular, beloved?, book and cited by many as transformative.
You will have to make up your own mind, as books like this are quite personal.
You may love it, you may not, you may not even be able to finish it.
If you’re looking more practical instruction on the techniques of fiction writing I would recommend: Creative Writing 10th Edition by Janet Burroway.
Absolutely loved this book. The reality of writing but with the humor to laugh about the hardest parts. I came away inspired to write. My favorite quote (paraphrased): if you aren’t enough before the publishing contracts and fame, you won’t be enough with them.
This book meant a great deal to me as a teenager. I identified strongly as a "writer," and identified strongly with the stories and statements made by Lamott here. She is a relatable writer, and this book of part-writing advice part-memoir is a perfect vessel for this.
I don't know if, for various reasons, I've aged out of this feeling, 15 years later? But I'd like to try.
I don't know if, for various reasons, I've aged out of this feeling, 15 years later? But I'd like to try.
Awesome! Best book I've read so far this year. A must read for anyone who has ever thought "Some day I'm going to write about this ... !"
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced