REVIEW: Bird by Bird

By Denise @ Life With No Plot on January 25, 2024 • ( 2 )

About the Book

Title: Bird by Bird

Author: Anne Lamott

Series: none

Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir, Self-Help

Pages: 237

Edition Read: Kindle eBook

Dates Read: December 18 – 19, 2023

Blurb: “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.'”

With this basic instruction always in mind, Anne Lamott returns to offer us a new gift: a step-by-step guide on how to write and on how to manage the writer’s life. From “Getting Started,’ with “Short Assignments,” through “Shitty First Drafts,” “Character,” “Plot,” “Dialogue.” all the way from “False Starts” to “How Do You Know When You’re Done?” Lamott encourages, instructs, and inspires. She discusses “Writers Block,” “Writing Groups,” and “Publication.” Bracingly honest, she is also one of the funniest people alive.

If you have ever wondered what it takes to be a writer, what it means to be a writer, what the contents of your school lunches said about what your parents were really like, this book is for you. From faith, love, and grace to pain, jealousy, and fear, Lamott insists that you keep your eyes open, and then shows you how to survive. And always, from the life of the artist she turns to the art of life.

Review

This book was such a delight. It was on my Kindle for the longest time – I have no idea where I even got it, which is a bit strange. But I am so glad that it appeared because I really, really appreciated every single word.

This book talks about writing, since that is Lamott’s specialty and vocation, but some of the advice she gives could be applied to just about an endeavor you are trying to do. Feeling overwhelmed by a big project? Cut it into small pieces and go from there. All progress is good progress. You don’t have to do everything all at once, in fact most of the time it’s better that you don’t. Any project can be broken into smaller parts of the whole, making achievable goals that are much easier to reach and keep you on the path to success, bit by bit, bird by bird.

Peppered into the writing advice are lots of stories and anecdotes about Lamott’s life and family, including the story from whence the book got it’s name. Sometimes books that are under the self-help umbrella, regardless of topic, can come across as preachy, but with Lamott, it felt more like sitting down and talking with a friend. It even made me want to, just maybe, start writing again. Possibly. Not sure yet. We’ll see. I definitely felt inspired at least.

GoodReads rating: 4 stars