Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

Anne Lamott

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Dec 18, 2007 - Reference - 272 pages

"A warm, generous and hilarious guide through the writer's world and its treacherous swamps." --Los Angeles Times

Advice on writing and on life from an acclaimed bestselling author:
"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.'"

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - datrappert - LibraryThing

Picked this up at a book fair although I have never read any of Lamott's other work. It is a very down to earth realistic book about writing for people who want to write about down to earth realistic ...

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - shulera1 - LibraryThing

If you're looking for a book on writing, go for this one. Lamott is sympathetic and brutally honest, and knows how to bring the truth to light without crushing your dreams. Beautifully written and laugh-out-loud funny.

Contents

• Getting Started 3 Short Assignments: 16
• Shitty First Drafts 21 Perfectionism: 28
• School Lunches 33 Polaroids: 39
• Part Twet ršle writing frame of šur D: 95
• Index Cards 133 Calling Around: 145
• Writers Block: 176
• PublicationAND OTHER: 185
• Writing a Present 185 Finding Your Voice: 195
• Publication: 208

About the author

Anne Lamott is the New York Times bestselling author of Help, Thanks, Wow; Small Victories; Stitches; Some Assembly Required; Grace (Eventually); Plan B; Traveling Mercies; Bird by Bird; Operating Instructions, and the forthcoming Hallelujah Anyway. She is also the author of several novels, including Imperfect Birds and Rosie. A past recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and an inductee to the California Hall of Fame, she lives in Northern California.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
• Author: Anne Lamott
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2007
• ISBN: 0307424987, 9780307424983
• Length: 272 pages
• Subjects: Language Arts & Disciplines / Composition & Creative Writing; Reference / Personal & Practical Guides; Reference / Writing Skills