Taking it “Bird by Bird…”
Photo by @arjan_stalpers
I opened Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird to get some tips to improve my writing. Those recommendations, however, seemed much more broadly applicable (I guess that’s why the subtitle —Some Instructions on Writing and Life— doesn’t just stop after “writing”).
Although this is the 25th anniversary edition of the book, Lamott’s message seemed particularly timely, so I wanted to share some snippets that stuck with me. I highly suggest picking up a copy - it’s a quick and uplifting read.
“I heard a preacher say recently that hope is a revolutionary patience; let me add that so is being a writer. Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don’t give up.”
“Writing can give you what having a baby can give you: it can get you to start paying attention, can help you soften, can wake you up.”
“In general though, there’s no point in writing hopeless novels. We all know we’re going to die; what’s important is the kind of men and women we are in the face of this.”
“Of course, there will always be more you could do, but you have to remind yourself that perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor.”
“My friend Carpenter says we no longer need Chicken Little to tell us the sky is falling, because it already has. The issue now is how to take care of one another. Some of us are interested in any light you might be able to shed on this, and we will pay a great deal extra if you can make us laugh about it.”
“I don’t think you have time to waste not writing because you are afraid you won’t be good enough at it, and I don’t think you have time to waste on someone who does not respond to you with kindness and respect. You don’t want to spend your time around people who make you hold your breath. You can’t fill up when you’re holding your breath. ”
“‘The world can’t give you that serenity,’ he said. ‘The world can’t give us peace. We can only find it in our hearts.’
‘I hate that,’ I said.
‘I know. But the good news is that by the same token, the world can’t take it away.’ ”
“Write straight into the emotional center of things. Write toward vulnerability. Don’t worry about appearing sentimental. Worry about being unavailable; worry about being absent or fraudulent. Risk being unliked. Tell the truth as you understand it. If you’re a writer, you have a moral obligation to do this. And it is a revolutionary act- truth is always subversive.”