Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

The book talks to every person and it befriends every writer. The author Anne Lammot tells her students to plug their nose, jump in, and write. She writes about the fears, the slack, the disinterest, the “am I having cancer or mental illness” phase, all phases a writer can go through to keep at writing on his or her desk. After every chapter I took down points in my notebook. Apart from addressing writers, the author in her foreword says the book is a narrative of her take on life. A must read book. 📕 It is very interesting, insightful and filled with practical advice.

The author makes you feel like you are accompanied by a friend who is so imperfect as yourself. Navigating through the journey of becoming a writer, the emotional ride that someone goes through as a newbie trapped between the expectation and reality is clearly addressed. Basically this book is for someone who wishes to write yet filled with self doubts and hesitations. Anne comes to rescue you and give a pat on your shoulder to start over.

I highly recommend Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. It’s full of practical advice, written beautifully with self-deprecating humour. She speaks about everything from getting words on a page to reaching deep within oneself for plots — using memory as a creative device. She also offers valuable insights on dealing with rejection, jealousy, and the art of both giving and receiving feedback. It feels like storytelling around a campfire, disguised as a workshop. It’s not so much technical as it is philosophical — there are other great books on craft, but this one is for the writer’s soul. Best of all, much of Lamott’s wisdom also informs our lives — how we relate to ourselves and to others. It shows us the way to becoming not only better writers, but also kinder humans.

This is a must-read book for authors who need some motivation to complete their book. Authors (and wannabes) often find themselves facing writer's block. So this answers the question, How to eat an elephant? Piece by piece! Instead of considering the book or novel as one big whole thing, consider it as parts. Now you have to focus on completing just one chapter. Thus, by going from chapter to chapter, you complete your book! The book provides many practical solutions to situations where authors get stuck. This is one of the main reasons why you find this book on the desk of almost every author worth his/her salt. To improve your writing, consider reading this book a few times. Your work would improve a lot.

How good is this book? Well, I am writing this review after a second back-to-back read. It’s that good. It is one of the best books for authors by an author I have ever read, and I say that even though there are about a zillion books for authors by authors I still have to catch up on. This book isn’t about getting your use of the apostrophe right, or about avoiding dangling participles. This book is about perfectionism, about school lunches, about dialogues and about broccoli. It is about writing, not eating, and I highly recommend you read the book if you want to know (and learn from knowing) what school lunches and broccoli have to do with authorship. This book is about dealing with the vulnerabilities of authors by an author who has dealt with the vulnerabilities of being an author and has prevailed, if that easy, humorous writing style is anything to go by. And this book is a superb example of how to do storytelling right in a non-fiction book. This book is a kind of bible on the other category of abilities an author needs, the kind of abilities of the mind and spirit you won't find described in grammar books and books on craftsmanship. I have this feeling I will be reading it again. Seems broccoli is good for you.

My first book on writing and it was hit when it comes to learnings from it . Author compares life to writing as both needs acceptance in imperfection .Bird by Bird tells the power of story telling and how writting connects individual to deeperselves .Author provides road map for writers by sharing personal memoirs,writting tips and how even small writting each day can bring out a different version of ourselves.#birdbybird

A1 quality, the book cover has some nice asmr feels to it, loved it, tx (sturdier cover than normal books)!

Not really great read. I was expecting to get some motivation to write more which i did in few chapters but the book is not really a pleasant read. It is not a coherent writing, in my opinion. My previous reading The sense of style by Steven Pinker must have set the bar high, I guess.

Sobre los libros, cada persona con sus gustos. Acabo de empezar, así que una opinión ahora no sirve de mucho, pero hasta adonde he llegado, me ha encantado. El lenguaje de la autora, y la mezcla de realidad con optimismo es una forma de abrir los ojos, no olvidar lo que quieres hacer sin perderte en fantasías que harán la realidad muy dura. Estoy segura de que me va a gustar hasta el final. Sus toques de humor me han enganchado.

A classic - funny, insightful, and a keeper. No wonder Bird By Bird is a recommended read in writing programs the world over.

Great style, informative and above all, highly amusing. Anne Lamott is perfectly imperfect.

I love the approach to aspiring writers ... Anne is homest and love the story telling ... Yes we all have a stor. I am reading to write science and is working for me so I am for writing facta and it is taking me trhough a great journey ... Thank you Anne!

It's a sincere essay on why we may find it hard to write some times. Sincerity is really valuable in a book on a topic like this, it means that even if you can't relate to everything that's written on it at a literal level, it will connect with you through your feelings as a struggling human being in front of a daunting task, which in this case, is writing something. It's an enjoyable read and by no means it has made me an expert writer, but I'm sure I learnt something and you don't get to say that every day.