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My
oldest daughter owes Anne Lamott big time! Thanks to her Operating Instructions: A Journal of my Son’s First Year, I
survived my first year as a mother. Another new mom recommended the book to me.
I clearly had been living under a rock, because I never heard of Lamott prior
to this.
Fast
forward ten years (and yes, I’m still surviving motherhood. I even added two
more daughters to the mix). Many fellow writers were touting Lamott’s craft
book, Bird by Bird. I knew I had to
read it. If she could make me laugh and give me strength during the most
sleep-exhausted and difficult (although insanely rewarding) early parenting
years, I had no doubt she could inspire my writing.
Again,
she did not disappoint.
Similar
to Stephen King’s On Writing, I felt
like I was sitting in the room with the author while she told me stories and offered
advice. Her candor lulled me in like a comforting
lullaby.
Not one to sugarcoat things, something I find quite endearing, Lamott emphasizes the idea that publication is not the end-all be-all for
writers. It, like most things we romanticize, is not all it’s cracked up to be.
Writing because you love it should be enough.
What
spoke most to me:
Shitty first drafts: Yep, that’s
what she calls them. And I can tell you from experience, that’s what they are.
But it’s nice to know an author I admire has them, and not just me. “Besides,”
Lamott says, “perfectionism will ruin your writing, blocking inventiveness and
playfulness and life force.”
Short Assignments: Instead of
sitting down and trying to write a novel, writers should remember to embrace the
short stuff and use their creative juices.
Characters: They are
your story. Authors need to know their characters, down to the smallest detail.
Lamott emphasizes dialogue in fleshing out characters: one line of dialogue that rings true reveals character in a way that
pages of description can’t. According to Lamott, “plot grows out of
character.”
Index cards: A writer
should never be without a way to record thoughts and feelings. Nobody knows
when or where inspiration will strike, so no reason to get caught off guard or
unprepared. I will be throwing a notebook in my purse!
Finding Our Voice: Above all,
she tells us to believe in ourselves, a theme that ran through Operating Instructions as well. She
says, “We write to expose the unexposed. If there is a door in the castle you
have been told not to go through, you must.”
Rarely
do I quote so many passages during a review, but I could have quoted this book
all day long.
I’ll
leave you with a final thought from Anne Lamott: Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and
widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul.
I couldn’t agree more.
Again, like King, Anne doesn’t set forth rules and bullet points or outline the
secret to writing success. Instead, she inspires you to find the secret to
writing within yourself. Most of her advice applies to living, not just writing.
Rating: 5 stars
For more
information on other Anne Lamott books, please visit her Amazon author page.
