A friend of mine, who is an editor, was promoting something called NaNoWriMo, which is basically a community for people who are all writing a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. You register on the site, and it helps you to stay accountable by becoming part of a community, which by extension should help you to stay committed to your writing goals. By their own words, NaNoWriMo is a “nonprofit organization that provides tools, structure, community, and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds — on and off the page.” Pretty badass, if you ask me.
To help people achieve their November writing aspirations, one of the tools my editor friend recommended was Bird by Bird, a book about writing and life, by Anne Lamott. I read through a brief synopsis and jumped straight into purchasing the 25th anniversary addition of the book, which I then read in record time. This is mostly thanks to the quirky, hilarious way that Lamott writes, as well as her seemingly bottomless collection of relatable anecdotes.
Lamott also has a certain bluntness to her writing that I really admire. The book is meant to be a concise representation of what it would be like to take a writing class with her. She breaks things down into four main parts: Writing, The Writing Frame of Mind, Help Along the Way, and Publication—and Other Reasons to Write, and each of these sections contains several brief chapters. The thing I loved so much about this format was how easy it was to pick up and put down the book when I had a few minutes, which meant I was more inclined to pick it up more often.
Also, she keeps things moving! It’s well paced, and her dry humour definitely helps to keep things feeling nice and snappy. You never feel like you are being preached at by some elusive expert, because her well placed anecdotes allow you to feel like she has also been where you are now.
My biggest takeaway: getting published shouldn’t be the reason you write.
Lamott is honest, and sometimes brutally so. The best piece of advice I received from this book was that getting published ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Essentially, she says that even if you do get published it may not change much for you. You may not even be able to quit your day job. The majority of published writers don’t achieve Liz Gilbert or J.K. Rowling-level success, so Lamott basically says, let that dream sail on by. Also, she is quick to remind her reader that even if you were to get J.K. Rowling famous, that won’t solve any of your problems. Being rich and famous doesn’t change who you are at your core, so if you are filled with self loathing or have major family issues, these elements of your life won’t just go away after you make millions of dollars. Also, you may have even more stress as a huge microscope (press, fans, etc.) is now hovering over you. So, write because you love to write, not because you think it will make you a super shiny awesome version of you.
Also, even if you get published you will always have days where you feel like you suck at writing.
This advice actually felt really encouraging (despite how it sounds), and it was continually sprinkled throughout the book in some form or another. Lamott makes it clear that almost every writer she knows has days where they feel like they are a total hack. Even the ones who have been published multiple times still have days where they sit down at a blank screen and feel like they should give up their craft, because the words just are not coming. But she always puts a really hopeful spin on this advice: she says to keep writing anyway. Because you will have days when the writing just flows and those days make the awful, stagnant ones worth it.
Lamott also shares a lot of insightful quotes like this one, from E.L. Doctorow: “writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” This actually makes me feel like I’m on the right track with my writing, and it’s also a great metaphor for life. We can rarely see more than a few feet ahead of us, but that doesn’t really matter. We still make choices and act according to what we can see. We will never know what lies beyond those few feet in front of us because we aren’t omniscient gods, and honestly, no matter how far ahead we plan there is no way to know what will actually happen. I made so many decisions in life because I thought things would go one way, only having to pivot when they didn’t. And surprise surprise! This has been exactly my experience with writing as well.
Finally, always write the truth in your own voice.
This is the reason we should even bother writing, according to Lamott. Sharing our core truths, and doing so in our own voices. It has been 29 years now since this book was first published, but it all still feels incredibly accurate, and even more so when nearly everyone is on the internet creating content. It’s pretty well impossible to be original and there are hundreds of blogs and/or Instagram accounts that are sharing similar things to your things. What I take from this advice though, is that even though this is true, it doesn’t mean we should stop creating.
Ultimately, I think what I love most about this book is that it makes me feel less alone. Writing is a truly solitary activity, but through reading Lamott’s words, I feel like part of a community of people who all stare at blank pages and think “maybe I should give up,” but then choose to go on. I think what Lamott’s book has given to me is what all good books give to their readers: a feeling of being seen and of shared human experiences. This is the reason I’ve sought solace in books my whole life, and it’s the reason I’ll continue writing too. We all just want to be known and Anne Lamott makes us feel that way. So, thank you Anne.
Leave a Reply