I've looked to this book again and again over the years, whenever the critic on my shoulder keeps me from writing. The title comes from a memory of the author's brother, stricken with the task of writing an essay about birds. Lamott's brother turns to their father for help, who tells him simply, "Just take it bird by bird." Written as if she's giving advice to an old friend, the book takes you through all the uncertainties and pitfalls of being a new, young writer, but even for practiced writers, her words still feel like a favorite comfy blanket. With practical and creative advice that comes from years of experience both writing and teaching, as well as prompts to help the reader engage with the ideas presented, I'll by using this book for help getting over writers block for many years to come.Publisher description:
For a quarter century, more than a million readers—scribes and scribblers of all ages and abilities—have been inspired by Anne Lamott's hilarious, big-hearted, homespun advice. Advice that begins with the simple words of wisdom passed down from Anne's father—also a writer—in the iconic passage that gives the book its title: "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. It 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.'" An essential volume for generations of writers young and old, Bird by Bird is a modern classic