Apr 22, 2014 / The Craft of Writing

Recommended Reading: Bird By Bird

There’s a book I turn to again and again when I’ve fired up my post editor but feel uninspired or just plain dejected: Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird.

<a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Birds_on_the_wire_-_crop_right.jpg">Birds on the Wire</a> by Colin (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>).

I referenced Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions in Writing and Life in last week’s “Five Posts to Write Right Now,” and we’ve used her in Blogging 101 assignments as well. Personally, I turn to this book again and again — when I’m staring down a blank screen and a deadline or feeling just not good enough, flipping to any page usually restores my perspective and helps unclog my thorniest word-jam.

The story of the book’s title sums it up perfectly:

Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he’d had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”

How many more times and ways can we say it? Read this book.

How many more times and ways can we say it? Read this book.

If that’s not enough to get you to peck out a few words, I’ll let Anne continue to speak:

On perfectionism…

Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messes are the artist’s true friend. What people somehow (inadvertently, I’m sure) forgot to mention when we were children was that we need to make messes in order to find out who we are and why we are here — and, by extension, what we’re supposed to be writing.

On the act of writing vs. the finished piece…

Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. That thing you had to force yourself to do — the actual act of writing — turns out to be the best part. It’s like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony. The act of writing turns out to be its own reward.

On how writing and reading (and, by extension, blogging) make a difference:

Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. 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. We are given a shot at dancing with, or at least clapping along with, the absurdity of life, instead of being squashed by it over and over again.

It’s like singing on a boat during a terrible storm at sea. You can’t stop the raging storm, but singing can change the hearts and spirits of the people who are together on that ship.

I’ll stop here, because this is Ms. Lamott’s book, not mine, but these quotes are a great snapshot of the tone and perspective that make this book so valuable.

As writers — or bloggers, or photographers, or insert-creative-pursuit here — it’s easy to get down on ourselves, to think that no one’s paying attention, or that we can’t possibly be as good as all the other amazing bloggers we read. For me, the beauty in Bird by Bird is that it helps me feel good again: about choosing to write, about dedicating myself to blogging, about my unique voice, about experimenting and making “messes” and playing with words and pictures to make stories.

Do you have go-to resources as a writer or photographer? What are they?

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  2. Love this! Finally getting started on my first blog this week. Read Ms. Lamott’s book years ago and it is now smiling at me from my bookshelf. Looking forward to picking it up again!

    Thanks for the inspiration 🙂

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  6. I really did enjoy this book and would read it again now with intention. She was the keynote speaker at the writer’s harvest when I was working on the MFA and she really inspired me then as well. She’s a good speaker and has shaped many writers on their journey. Thanks for quoting some of her anecdotes.

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  9. I particularly like her comment that writing is its own reward. It’s along the lines of what I’ve said in a page called ‘Re Awards’ on my own blog …

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  10. Bird by Bird was an excellent read! Like many others here, I also enjoy Stephen King’s On Writing. A newer find for me is Constance Hale’s Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wicked Good Prose. Sharp writing, great information on grammar, and plenty of interesting writing examples.

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  12. I’m on board with “Bird by Bird”. Can also recommend Ray Bradbury’s “Zen and the at of writing”, Gabriele Rico “Writing the natural way” ” and if you’re a poet Mary Kinzie “A poet’s guide to poetry.”

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  15. I almost picked up this book today in the book store!! Looks like a great read, I will definitely go back to check it out 🙂
    -Sarah Virginia

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  17. This is one of my favorite books! Constant inspiration in talking to people, blogging, creative writing, and even school writing

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  18. maybe this is a sign that I’m up WAYYY too late, but those quotes actually got me a little choked up! so much great messaging out there, and substantial advice in both writing and life. consider me sold! thanks for the recommendation!

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  21. Yes Yes Yes! I haven’t read Bird by Bird, so thank- you for the recommendation. The excerpts resonate and encourage. My Go To book is Julia Cameron’s The Artist Way, which I love so much that I can spend a page a month…slowly digesting…a kind of Soul Superfood, deliciously addictive. Interestingly enough, I have never read it all the way through yet, which says an awful lot about me and butterfly personalities! It’s definitely not a quick page turning kind of book. More of a life long loyal companion. Perhaps that’s how Go To books are defined? Books that keep drawing you in, that you not only go to, but come home to. Books you don’t feel that compulsion to rush through, but you rush to return to. Books about love, compassion, forgiveness and reconciliation. This neatly takes me on to another favourite Go To book – Stephanie Dowrick’s Forgiveness and Other Acts of Love, which leads me to another favourite Go To writer Marianne Williamson, who is an entire Go To library creator…Go To lists are circular it seems, cyclical, unforgettable, monumental, of biblical proportions, which leads me on to another phenomenal Go To-er…

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  23. Michelle. Thank you, you have made my day today. you have given me a shoulder to lean on. Am greatful. I was wandering what today’s post will be? But your piece gave me the spark. Rgds

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  24. In fact the book can always be a source of inspiration for many people. I will visit my bookstore pavorit to again find the recommended books. Especially for how to write good. Thank you for your reference.

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  25. I love Bird By Bird and reread it every year or so. I also reread Jessica Page Morrell’s Between The Lines whenever I finish a first draft of a project. It is very helpful.

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  26. I also loved this book when I read it. Another one that kicked me into action was Stephen King’s “On Writing.” Excellent, excellent memoir along with some solid advice on writing.

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  29. Really loved this post! I need to get that book. But I also needed to hear what you had to say at the end – that blogging helps me feel good again and there is no need to compare. All I need to do is take my blog bird by bird! Thanks for this reminder.

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