Bird by Bird

As the sub-title suggests, this is as much about finding a fulfilment in life as it is about writing. 

Even though the book consists of such chapters as Characters, Plot, Dialogue and Writing Groups, what comes over again and again that the process of writing is one that will offer peace of mind more than fame or financial success. Anne Lamott goes to great pains to stress that getting published is not the be-all and end-all of writing. She notes, in fact, that most people who write may never be published.*

I picked it up not so much for writing tips, but for the ease and simplicity with which she writes, and for the advice about life she offers along the way. Somebody unkind might dismiss this as a self-help book. That’s doing it a disservice. A very large disservice.

*I first heard of AL when I came across this quote from an interview.

‘Publication and temporary creative success are something you have to recover from. They kill as many people as not. They will hurt, damage and change you in ways you cannot imagine. The most degraded and sometimes nearly evil men I have known were all writers who had had best-sellers.’

It made me going looking for books by her.