Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

The book's failing is in assuming that the author's reason for writing--to uncover the truth in her life experience--is the only important one. Lamott dismisses other writing (presumably commercial fiction) as "making candy."

This stance is elitist and annoying (it's the same one you get from most college writing instructors). The argument goes like this: you must aspire to uncover the Truth, because that is what literature is for. Writing that doesn't do this--writing that merely entertains, for example--is less than worthy (it's just "making candy," and candy rots your teeth). Lamott at least tells you that you probably won't be good enough, and probably won't make any money even if you are--but she still insists that you pursue Truth.

I don't buy it. Humans have a fundamental need for stories of all kinds. Creating a story and telling it well enough to be published is noble enough, without burdening yourself with the fear that you're not writing "truth," or that your writing is somehow less important than any other.


Who Woulda' Guessed?   May 10, 2002
 26 out of 30 found this review helpful

My goodness! Who would have guessed that one slim little volume could cause so much controversy!

Anne Lamott's National Bestseller, "Bird by Bird," does not promise a complete course in advanced writing. The subtitle says "SOME Instructions on Writing and LIFE." What you see is what you get.

This book is a perfect introduction to writing for beginning writers just as, I suspect, LaMott's courses are. More advanced writers should get out their Hi-liters and pay attention not so much to WHAT she says but HOW she says it. It also wouldn't hurt to look at her self deprecating humor (I don't see where these readers are seeing all that self-absorption stuff--I truly don't!)and her honesty.

Could some of this be professional jealousy? This is a book that gives what it promises and more! And yes, some of the advice is similar to advice that has been given by others. Writers' books are sort of a genre of their own--in the vein of King's and others. A little memoir, a little humor, a little advice. How much new can be said about how to write anyway?

Writers or wanna be writers should find this a nice, savory little book to be read a little at a time, bird by bird.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of "This is the Place"


A Romp Through Anne Lamott's Writers Workshop   December 16, 1999
 23 out of 24 found this review helpful

If you've ever thought of signing up for one of those writers workshops with some successful wordcrafter but were put off by the price or the possibility of somebody asking, "What are YOU doing here?" this is your chance to do a test-run on what it might really be like.

If Anne Lamott's workshops are anything like her book "Bird by Bird: Instructions on Writing and Life," then whatever the cost - dollars or pride - it will be worth the price of admission.

Lamotte is funny - poking fun at herself as well as doing a running, withering commentary on society and human nature. No thought is too important to permit a digression which is part of her style of writing (and speaking?). On the other hand, no thought is too trivial to put on a 3X5 card for possible intrusion (not a Freudian Slip, thank you!) in something she is writing or saying. Her philosophy of life and writing seems to be: If the shoe fits, it probably isn't yours, but wear it anyway. Whoever left it for you should have been more careful where they leave their shoes.

Besides the fun, no there's nothing besides fun in life - except despair and you don't want to go there - the fun in no way takes anything away from Lamott's sound advice for writers, especially those with low self-esteem, poverty status, lack of writing skills, and nagging in-laws who wonder why you don't get a REAL job.

Her practical advice includes: getting started (sit down everyday, same time, same place, quiet your mind, and start writing until you "get to that one long paragraph that was what you had in mind when you started, only you didn't know that, couldn't know that, until you got to it"); try doing short assignments ("...writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way." E. L. Doctorow); developing characters ("Just don't pretend you know more about your characters than they do, because you don't. Stay open to them. It's teatime and all the dolls are at the table. Listen. It's that simple."); and plot (Plot grows out of character. If you focus on who the people in your story are, if you sit and write about two people you know and are getting to know better day by day, something is bound to happen.").

One of my favorite chapters is "Broccoli" which begins with Mel Brooks' old routine in which a psychiatrist advises a patient, "Listen to your broccoli, and your broccoli will tell you how to eat it." Don't try to find out who that psychiatrist is - she's booked up 'til January 3000! Lamotte is affirming the shy attribute of intuition - trust it, tease it, test it, listen to it, get to know it. There is a gentle, tender, wondrous part of each of us that aches to be honored and invited to tea with our other toys, but like E.T., it has the right stuff to transform our lives and awaken the dolls.

"Bird by Bird" offers the pat on the back and kick in the pants every aspiring writer needs. Lamott does not think everybody who writes should publish . But she does believe everybody who wants to write should do it! There are characters in each of us just waiting to enter the stage of our minds and come to life. So, what are you waiting for? Get started all ready! They may not wait for ever.


Self-indlugent trash for the self-preocupied.   July 11, 2000
 22 out of 43 found this review helpful

If you are a writer haunted by self-doubt and keep battling the daemons that haunt your ego, this book might give you a couple of insights on how to start writing. There are some useful tidbits for the rest of us, but these are difficult to find, and force you to read the rest. You will find no guidance as to creating a better plot, or characters, as the chapter names would lead you to believe.

I expected a book like "Structuring Your Novel: From Basic Idea to Finished Manuscript" from Meredith and Fitzgerald, but with a personal spin. But instead I got some new-age drivel. Its nice to see that the author found solace and escape in her writing (and if you believe the description of the accompanying video, other things), but I wished she would have given us more of a book on writing then one on her personal pains.


Good grief...   August 29, 1999
 22 out of 28 found this review helpful

I was relieved to see that there were at least a couple of negative reviews here, so I wasn't alone. A much better book for aspiring writers is Julia Cameron's "The Right to Write" (or any of her other books, for that matter), Eric Maisel's "Fearless Creating," or Rita Mae Brown's "Starting from Scratch." These at least take for granted that the reader has some idea that you know why you want to write and are not trying to make you prove that you're "worthy" of Being A Writer. Frankly, I found Lamott's writing crude, her self-absorption depressing, and her advice on writing not terribly useful (what little there was of that). Although she certainly seems to love "teaching her classes" I have to wonder how much regard she actually holds them in, given that she's mocking their anxieties about publication at every turn. I'm not sure what she thinks aspiring writers are looking for, but it's not here.