studying: anne lamott's bird by bird

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so i went to the green hills branch of nashville's public library one afternoon and went over to the creative writing section. i just wanted to see what they had. i was in a study mode, and i thought...what the heck. i stumbled upon a few books, which i checked out. one of them was bird by bird  by anne lamott. my grandma, whom i meet with every tuesday for coffee to talk reading, writing, and family is a big fan of her wit and her ability to be herself. so i had heard of her for a while, but i never picked up anything she'd written.

so when i saw she'd written about writing, i thought....this might be a good place to start! 

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you know when you go to the grocery store hungry? you end up with a lot more food than you can/will eat in your cart. it's the same for me at the library sometimes. if i go in there "hungry", i end up checking out everything i can get my hands on regarding a certain subject or author. and i get home, fully wanting to dive in. and then life reminds i don't have time to read for 2 weeks straight without meals or bathroom breaks. maybe i'm the only one. who knows. anyway, i was praying this wasn't one of those times! 

it wasn't. i did good :) i read 4/5.

so bird by bird. it was a little like on writing by stephen king in that it had a lot about her life and how she got started writing. it explained why she wrote the way she wrote, where she came from, and how it affected her writing. i love these. they make a how-to book so much more personal. so much less than a textbook. if i wanted to go to class, i could. but these books make the ride more enjoyable. 

(by the way, anne teaches a class, and i think i would 100% enjoy it. she's a hoot.)

here are some of the quotes/insights i liked from her:

"writing is little like milking a cow: the milk is so rich and delicious, and the cow is so glad you did it."


"all i know is that if i sit there long enough, something will happen."


anne's favorite piece of writing advice from e.l. doctorow:

"writing a novel is a little like driving a car at night. you can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way." 

"very few writers know what they are doing until they have done it."


on drafts: 

1. first draft- 'down draft'...just to get it down
2. second draft- 'up draft'... you fix it up
3. third draft- 'dental draft'...check every tooth


"perfectionism will ruin your writing." ------that one was put in the book so i would see it :) 


"day by day, you have to give the work before you all the best stuff you have, not saving it up for later projects. if you give freely, there will always be more."


"whenever the world throws rose petals at you, which thrill and seduce your ego, beware. The cosmic banana peel is suddenly going to appear underfoot to make sure you don't take it all too seriously, that you don't fill up on junk food." 


there are so many more i jotted down...so many. but this will hopefully push you to read this book. if you are a writer, there's no reason not to.  enjoy!

-ahr