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A review by rachreadreview
Bird By Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
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