bird by bird, word by word

My nonfiction writing friends referenced Anne Lamott enough times over this past year for me to grow curious. Seeing as I primarily live in the world of fiction, hers was not a name I was familiar with. I agree with this book of hers being instructions on life as well as writing. For one thing, they're inevitably entwined. And the anecdotes Lamott weaves to illustrate what she's learned about the mysteries of writing through her long, illustrious career come straight from her experiences with her son Sam, her late friend Pammy, and her various students. She places these stories in parts and chapters that cover most of what I can think a book like this should contain: writer's block, publication, spirituality, self-doubt, characterization, plot and its movements, etc. It felt like everything I was hoping to read about in a truthful manner was covered, which I'm very grateful for. My pink pen underlines are all over the place, marking up particular spots I know I'll want to reference later. Especially the sentiment to take the mountainous task of storytelling one step at a time, or one bird at a time. I mainly read this book with a watchful eye for sections or certain tidbits of advice that might be helpful for the college freshmen I'll be teaching this fall. We'll be sharing a semester of introductory level writing together, and while I know I certainly have an arsenal of knowledge and stories to share from my own life, I'm nowhere near too proud to look outside of myself for illuminating texts and advice on this thing called writing. I found, though, that the layout of this book's instructions are more suited for students of creative writing, those individuals who've purposefully signed up for a class or course because they know they want to seriously write and live under the banner of "writer." So it was entirely helpful for me, but I sense may be a bit beyond what the room full of seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds I'll soon be in charge of are looking for.
I had the pleasure of hearing Anne Lamott speak at an interview hosted by my university (yet another reason to adore our annual Writer's Symposium by the Sea events). I briefly met her when I handed her my copy of Bird by Bird to sign. She asked me a question I can't entirely remember now. I do remember my answer was to tell her I was one of the university's master's in writing students. Her response was, "Good for you" as she drew a heart next to her signature scrawled in thick Sharpie. I have to agree. Very good for me. 

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Some of my favorite quotes from Bird by Bird:

"One of the gifts of being a writer is that it gives you an excuse to do things, to go places and explore. Another is that writing motivates you to look closely at life, at life as it lurches by and tramps around."

"Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up."

"Because for some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you."

"In general, though, there's no point in writing hopeless novels. We all know we're going to die; what's important is the kind of men and women we are in the face of this."

"Plot grows out of character. If you focus on who the people in your story are, if you sit and write about two people you know and are getting to know better day by day, something is bound to happen."

"Over and over I feel as if my characters know who they are, and what happens to them, and where they have been and where they will go, and what they are capable of doing, but they need me to write it down for them because their handwriting is so bad."

"I honestly think in order to be a writer, you have to learn to be reverent. If not, why are you writing? Why are you here?"

"Sometimes intuition needs coaxing, because intuition is a little shy. But if you try not to crowd it, intuition often wafts up from the soul or subconscious, and then becomes a tiny fitful little flame. It will be blown out by too much compulsion and manic attention, but will burn quietly when watched with gentle concentration."

"Writing is about hypnotizing yourself into believing in yourself, getting some work done, then unhypnotizing yourself and going over the material coldly."

"One of the things that happens when you give yourself permission to start writing is that you start thinking like a writer."

"I don't think you have time to waste not writing because you are afraid you won't be good enough at it, and I don't think you have time to waste on someone who does not respond to you with kindness and respect."

"All the good stories are out there waiting to be told in a fresh, wild way."

"Don't be afraid of your material or your past. Be afraid of wasting any more time obsessing about how you look and how people see you. Be afraid of not getting your writing done."

"This is what separates artists from ordinary people: the belief, deep in our hearts, that if we build our castles well enough, somehow the ocean won't wash them away. I think this is a wonderful kind of person to be."

"You notice how a writer paints in a mesmerizing character or era for you, without your having the sense of being given a whole lot of information, and when you realize how artfully this has happened, you may actually put the book down for a moment and savor it, just taste it."

"When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored." 

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