Bird by Bird

This isn’t just an instructional book on writing, it is a bit more than that. There’s the element of writing, but then the element of realistic expectations to building a skill.

“Good writing is about telling the truth.”

Quite often I have to write for work, emails, blog posts, chat messages - although not always the writing Anne may be talking about.. I think her advice can apply. In fact, it feels like all of my friends expect me to write a book, I wouldn’t even know where to begin, sometimes I don’t even know where to begin with a blog post for work.

I think the pep talk aspect of this book and the little exercises that are suggested are quite obvious, but also something I would never have thought of employing in my own every day until reading this. Short writing assignments will become something I start to do; in fact, these book reviews are exactly that. However, after the last 80ish reviews I have done, maybe I structure my assignment a bit more. Homework for a book review in the future…She also comments that writer’s block is just “looking at the problem from the wrong angle.”

“…get over perfectionism.”

Amen to that. I sometimes struggle with this, but her suggestion to write your first draft and understand that no one has to see it is great, I tend to tell myself that already, but I think this helped me reflect to commit to that mentality.

There’s more to this book, more about characters, plot, dialogue, etc.. and she even talks about how she carried index cards around to write notes on, which is a habit I know Joan Didion employs in her day to day life.

A lot more to talk about when it comes to this book, especially if you are a writer. I think I feel more confident in my ability to write after this, and that there are ways to improve that confidence even further, and my skill much more. I think many of us at some point have to write, whether its an email or a novel, I think it helps to read and find ways to improve your ability.

Some words I learned reading this book:

Kvetch: Complain

Priggish: Self-righteously moralistic and superior