A Book Review: "Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott

God I love Anne Lamott.

She is rough around the edges. Yet eloquent. I can hear her talking in her writing and I love that. And she is humble pie wrapped in truth talk.

Have you watched her TED TALK titled ‘12 Truths I Learned from Life and Writing’? A must watch, here is the link for you.

I recently finished her book ‘Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life’ and I truly loved it. Written in memoir style, she is a wonderful story teller and straight shooter. I have a goal to write a book and two friends told me to read this and when a double recommendation happens, I jump on my library website to place a hold.

In this book, Anne speaks to the trials and tribulations of writing, kind of like we see reflected often in life. My biggest takeaway is the discipline to sit your butt in that chair every day and write. The goal to get published while recognizing this should never be the goal at all as it can lead to empty promises, vanity and way less than expected (like way less). And her point is that writing is living, sharing, being human, serving the World with words and connection - and I dig that and it definitely lit a fire under my writing goals.

Quotes like these I love the most:

“Clutter and mess show us that life is being lived...Tidiness makes me think of held breath, of suspended animation... Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messes are the artist's true friend. What people somehow forgot to mention when we were children was that we need to make messes in order to find out who we are and why we are here.”

and this inquiry:

“Because this business of becoming conscious, of being a writer, is ultimately about asking yourself, How alive am I willing to be?”

I definitely recommend this to anyone that wants to write - not necessarily get published - but someone with a desire to share, feel, write, own their story and be so open to the shitty first draft, Anne loves that!