Bird by Bird

Bird by bird begins with Anne Lamott explaining her love for books which is primarily due to her fathers massive influence. She always used to wish her father had a normal working job but realized that writing was a perfect fitting job for him and soon followed in his footsteps. She learned a lot from her father, in which she passes down her knowledge to us as the reader. As a child, Lamott’s brother was once overwhelmed by a huge school project on birds. His father’s simple yet profound advice was to take it “bird by bird,” or one small step at a time. This really stuck in my head; not only because it addresses the title of the book but also because it explains a great way to break down things and really get going on where you want to start. Lamott firmly believes that writers should start small, like an experience you had when you were a child.This shows me that if you were to take something complicated, and break it down, you will be less intimidated by the complexity of your task.  It also showed me the importance of faith- if you are patient and discipline your writing style, you can achieve great things.  The fact that Lamott chooses the phrase “Bird by bird” as the title of her book is a tribute to her father, and his influence on her.  The memory of her father was the inspiration for her first book after falling ill with brain cancer; leading me onto the next point in the story which really helped me as a writer.
A repeated motif in Bird by Bird is the importance of memories. Memories become a primary source of writing, and the underlying motivation for writing. Lamott refers to memories early in the book, when she describes encouraging her students to write specifically about their childhoods. She herself writes about her own memories throughout Bird by Bird; the book is partly a memoir of her writing life. She goes on to explain in detail that memories are simply the starting point for writing, the means of discovering what experiences arouse passion and need to be shared.  This was noteworthy for me because there are a lot of times where, as i writer, i feel stumped about what to write; this bit of advice reminds you to reflect on memories and the truth will just come out on paper.
Another part in Bird by Bird that really influenced me was when she was explaining that to be a good writer, you not only have to write a great deal, but you have to care. I find this to be very true, if you are not passionate about what you are wanting to say, it wont get across to the reader as well as it could. Lamott constantly reiterates that though writers might feel outside of society, their job is to call attention to things others might miss.  This makes me think that if you have a lot to give to the world- a lot to say-  you need to be dedicated and really care enough to want to get inside the readers head and that is when they will care what you have to say.