writing

A favorite college professor handed me this book my senior year, after she read a very personal piece of my writing. I can honestly say that reading this book was a turning point in my life. Anne Lamott's writing is so authentic and personal that you feel she is your friend, that she has written this book for you. Lamott gives practical, humorous advice to get you through writing and life, just as the title suggests. Bird by Bird makes you realize that neither writing nor living, nor writing about your life, is as frightening and overwhelming as it sometimes seems. Lamott tells of the trials that have forged her personality...-her decision to be a single mother, overcoming alcoholism--and when you read her nonfiction, you sense you can trust her because she is wise beyond her years. This is someone who has really LIVED her life, with all the pain and joy required.

If you have never read anything by Anne Lamott, I suggest Bird by Bird and Traveling Mercies. I also loved her weekly columns..., and hope she resumes writing columns someday.

This is not a how-to book. This is not a New Age manual for freeing your creativity in ethereal ways. This is Anne Lamott, for heaven's sake...and that means it's funny! As in, laugh- till-you-can't-read-the-words-through-the-tears-in-your-eyes funny. (Some call this therapy, and I'm inclined to agree.)

Though aimed at writers, this book is full of sage advice and razor-edged honesty for the average joe. If you're a writer--and I claim to be one--it's more than a few anecdotes and good advice; it's a lifeline in the thrashing seas of rough-draftdom, a foothold on the sands of jealousy and vain ambition. Anne makes it clear that writing must be pursued for something other than mere publication. (Though, to be honest, I know she's just trying to let the majority of us down easy.) Writing is about letting go, growing, facing truths, and holding on.

I'm hooked on Lamott. She slaps me in the face with her startling revelations, nudges me in the ribs with her unpredictable humor, and prods my frozen little writer's hands back into action with warm compassion. This book won't solve the mechanical aspects of my writing, or lead me on the path of structural excellence, but it will spark my creativity, free my characters to be true to themselves, and, ultimately, shake me from my doldrums back into the writing mode.

In a society addicted to mindless facts and information, "Bird by Bird" reminds us--writers or otherwise--that it's all about heart. Heart and mind and soul dancing together, even if they step all over each other's feet.

Anne Lamott is always a brave and honest writer, but in "Bird by Bird" she streaks through your psyche, leaving her self evaluations and confessions burned into your mind like the image of the naked stranger you walked in on by accident in the dressing room. You get the feeling you should look away, but you can't help taking a peek. Often funny, sometimes uncomfortable, but always, to the last page, authentic. If you're a writer, I bet you'll read it more than once.