Bird by Bird

Author: Anne Lamott. Non-fiction. First Anchor Books Edition, October 1995.
ISBN:

I recognized the unusual title of this book when I came across it at the library a few weeks ago. I decided I'd probably read of it from time to time in one of the writers' magazines I receive.

The book, too, is unusual -- not your standard "how-to-write" or "how-to-get-published-and- make-lots-of-money" books.

First, what didn't I like? Her use of vulgarity, all the while citing her various church experiences. Religion is not just a belief system; it's a lifestyle. Yes, it has to do with doing good for others, but it also has to do with purity of mind, action, and speech (James 1:27). I read it through but cringed numerous times at her vulgarity and her reference to God as "she." Lamott and I are obviously living on different plains.

What did I like? Despite our religious polarity, I found her book inspiring. Yes, she's cynical. Yes, she seems neurotic—I kept placing her in New York City rather than Los Angeles, where I suppose people should be a little more laid back. She reveals more than a little pessimism—or is it realism?—when it comes to even her own experiences in publication.

Yet, all was forgiven (well, almost all) as I read her ultimate chapter, "The Last Class." There she affirmed my personal, and maybe selfish, reasons for writing and made them seem almost altruistic. I was motivated by sentences like "The life of reading and writing and corresponding is the loveliest one possible" and her observation that "If you are writing the clearest, truest words you can find and doing the best you can to understand and communicate, this will shine on paper like its own little lighthouse. Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining." Throughout the book, she reveals a knack for drawing memorable illustrations of what most experienced writers advise would-be writers: "Just write."

Would I read another of her books? Probably not. If her non-fiction—though intended to be entertaining—unashamedly uses offensive terms, I would suspect her fiction to include more of the same. But for a source of writing inspiration—with a large dose of realism—I'm glad I read this one.