Bird by Bird
by Anne Lamott
Lamott's instructions on writing and life: short assignments, terrible first drafts, the one-inch picture frame, and the radio station in your head that must be quieted. It is funny and tender and has consoled thirty years of blocked writers. The advice applies to any work that feels too big to start.
Read it if…
you are paralyzed by the size of a project and need to be told to take it bird by bird.
Skip it if…
you want a technical craft manual; this is encouragement with craft woven in.
Three things you will actually use
- Allow terrible first drafts.
- Work in one-inch frames.
- Perfectionism is the enemy of the work.
Do this first
Pick one tiny piece of the big thing and write or do just that today, badly.
Our verdict
Warm, funny and wise; a comfort for anyone who makes things.
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