Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and LifeNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An essential volume for generations of writers young and old. The twenty-fifth anniversary edition of this modern classic will continue to spark creative minds for years to come. Anne Lamott is "a warm, generous, and hilarious guide through the writer’s world and its treacherous swamps" (Los Angeles Times). “Superb writing advice…. Hilarious, helpful, and provocative.” —The New York Times Book Review 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.’” |
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... probably not that great . Ruin , hysteria , bad skin , unsightly tics , ugly financial problems , maybe ; but probably not peace of mind . I tell them that I think they ought to write anyway . But I try to make sure they understand that ...
... probably not that great . Ruin , hysteria , bad skin , unsightly tics , ugly financial problems , maybe ; but probably not peace of mind . I tell them that I think they ought to write anyway . But I try to make sure they understand that ...
Page 8
... probably read over what you've written and spend the rest of the day obsessing , and praying that you do not die before you can completely rewrite or destroy what you have written , lest the eagerly waiting world learn how bad your ...
... probably read over what you've written and spend the rest of the day obsessing , and praying that you do not die before you can completely rewrite or destroy what you have written , lest the eagerly waiting world learn how bad your ...
Page 17
... probably at least check in with my agent and tell him this great idea I have and see if he thinks it's a good idea , and see if he thinks I need orthodontia - if that is what he is actually thinking whenever we have lunch together ...
... probably at least check in with my agent and tell him this great idea I have and see if he thinks it's a good idea , and see if he thinks I need orthodontia - if that is what he is actually thinking whenever we have lunch together ...
Page 24
... probably not . I'd get up and study my teeth in the mirror for a while . Then I'd stop , remember to breathe , make a few phone calls , hit the kitchen and chow down . Eventually I'd go back and sit down at my desk , and sigh for the ...
... probably not . I'd get up and study my teeth in the mirror for a while . Then I'd stop , remember to breathe , make a few phone calls , hit the kitchen and chow down . Eventually I'd go back and sit down at my desk , and sigh for the ...
Page 31
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Contents
16 | |
28 | |
School Lunches 33 Polaroids | 39 |
Dialogue 64 Set Design | 74 |
False Starts 80 Plot Treatment | 85 |
Radio Station KFKD 116Jealousy | 122 |
Index Cards 133 Calling Around | 145 |
Letters 172 Writers Block | 176 |
PUBLICATIONAND OTHER | 185 |
Writing a Present 185 Finding Your Voice | 195 |
Giving 202Publication | 208 |
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actually agent Anne Lamott Anthony Hopkins beautiful begin believe breathe called characters Demi Moore desk dialogue editor Ethan Canin everything father feel felt finally Flannery O'Connor formula fiction Frederick Buechner funny garden Gary Snyder getting give going happen head hear heart hope index cards inside keep KFKD knew listen lives look lunch mind months morning movie Natalie Goldberg night novel Okay one-inch picture frame Pammy paper parents person Phillip Lopate plot Polaroid probably published quiet remember sense Sharon Olds shitty first draft short assignment smell someone Sometimes sort stare started talk tell there's things thought tiny told truth trying turn voice waiting walking Warren Oates Wendell Berry woman wonderful words worry writer friends writing group written wrote