Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott is a guide that blends practical advice with heartfelt wisdom. Inspired by her father’s advice to her brother during a school project meltdown – “Just bird by bird” – Lamott shows that both writing and life are best approached one step at a time. 

The book emphasizes honesty, presence, and openness, teaching that telling your truth is the key to creating work that resonates.

Getting Started

• Short Assignments
  • Focus on a “one-inch picture frame” – one moment/feeling
  • Don’t worry about the whole story
  • Discover the story as you move through it
• Shitty First Drafts
  • 1st = down draft (get it down)
  • 2nd = up draft (touch it up)
  • 3rd = dental draft (inspect every detail)
• Perfectionism
  • Kills creativity
  • Writing needs air and revision
  • Embrace the mess – treasures hide there
• If Stuck
  • Write anything (school lunches, carrot sticks)
  • 5 pages of fluff may lead to 1 great paragraph
• Writing = Polaroid
  • Starts unclear, develops over time
  • Pay attention to what characters value
• Character
  • Everyone has an “emotional acre”
  • What do they plant/neglect? What grows?
  • Know them inside and out – what would they journal?
  • Likable, not perfect
• Plot
  • Must grow from character
  • Feels like a continuous, vivid dream
  • ABDCE → action, background, development, climax, ending
• Dialogue
  • Real, but cleaner and sharper than real speech
  • Feels like eavesdropping
  • Avoid over-explaining
  • Read it aloud for flow
• Setting
  • Reflects character’s soul and history
  • Objects = identity
  • Imagine it as a film set
• Plot Treatment
  • Write a chapter-by-chapter outline
  • Who, what, why
  • Becomes your recipe

The Writing Frame of Mind

• Writing = paying close attention to life
  • Be present like a child – curious, observant, full of wonder
  • Know yourself compassionately
• If you can’t finish a story, it may lack a moral center
  • You must care deeply about it at its core
  • Moral stance = passion + human meaning (not a message)
• “Listen to your broccoli, and your broccoli will tell you how to eat it”
  • Trust your intuition
  • Quiet the rational chatter
  • Let the small inner voice speak
• Radio Station KFKD
  • Self-importance: “You’re amazing”
  • Self-doubt: “You’re a fraud”
  • Neither is helpful – notice and turn them down
  • Find a ritual/practice that brings quiet and focus
• Jealousy
  • Unavoidable
  • Others will succeed
  • Some won’t like your work

Help Along The Way

• Index Cards – to write things down, everything is potential material
• Calling Around – people love sharing about what they are experts on
• Proofreader – honest feedback gives you a sense of what works
• Letters – write a letter as a way to tell your story, low pressure
• Writer’s Block – you’re empty, not broken
  • Accept that you’re not in a creative period and take time to refill