Taking this blog post bird by bird…
Finally. A book about writing advice for a class that I actually enjoy reading. Usually I find myself zoning out really bad (“Oh I need to remember to send that email,” “Hmm what to have for dinner tonight,” and the inevitable “So much to do before tomorrow” thought) when reading through required reading assignments, but Anne Lamott’s Bird By Bird has kept me hooked. She writes in a hilarious, yet helpful way to encourage writers of all levels to consider her writing tips. If I had the time, I probably would have read the whole book in one setting.
I particularly found the chapter “Perfectionism” to apply to me. I always have a hard time just getting started on anything I write, whether it be a research paper, newspaper article, or even this blog post. It’s that first sentence for me that takes forever to form. It doesn’t help either that I think it has to be perfect. Lamott states, “…the bottom line is that if you want to write, you get to, but you probably won’t be able to get very far if you don’t start trying to get over your perfectionism…so go ahead make big scrawls and mistakes. Use up lots of paper. Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messes are the artist’s true friend.” When I read this I shook my head up and down in agreement. It’s just what I needed to hear. Now onto those “Shitty First Drafts”…
