Writer's block, an owner's guide: Bird by Bird
As with other books, I delayed opening Bird by Bird because people had told me how good it was.
It’s feckin amazing. If I told you it was masterly, that would give the wrong, stuffy, impression. This Anne Lamott woman writes as I would like to – with personal courage and a light touch; with vivid far-reaching metaphors that I totally get and that she never insults me by explaining; and without putting a foot wrong. And she knows all about writing.
Turns out it’s not really about writer’s block, any more than The Shining (why is it called that?) or Secret Window (why is it called that?) are movies about blocked writers. Just a book about the craft of writing.
A few random things that I noted while I was, finally, reading it for the first time. Lamott says that the thrill of seeing oneself in print “provides some sort of primal verification: you are in print; therefore you exist.” I agree: the Friday night when I first heard my own lines in a national broadcast, without warning, without the contract having reached me in the mail, it shocked me sober. But this is the opposite of the other thing I’ve mentioned a couple of times in this blog, about how going public with your material makes you vulnerable, about how once you are in print people can judge you at their leisure and unstoppably. Both points of view are correct, of course.
Writing in flow (she doesn’t call it that, but I take that liberty because it suits my larger purpose) she describes as “a little like milking a cow: the milk is so rich and delicious, and the cow is glad you did it.” On finding out what you are writing: :Think of a fine painter attempting to capture an inner vision, beginning with one corner of the canvas, painting what he thinks should be there, not quite pulling it off, covering it over with white paint, and trying again, each time finding out what his painting isn’t, until finally he finds out what it is.” And finally “just don’t pretend you know more about your characters than they do, because you don’t.”
But these are just passages that struck me as interesting or well-expressed. I almost wish I hadn’t quoted them. They convey nothing of the perfection of the writing. And it’s not, thank goodness, a book about my subject. Just a good book about the writer’s craft. Full of clear hints (I know what I mean) without ever being didactic. Full of individual coloration that makes it intensely her own and at the same time intensely resonant with my European masculine consciousness. “Bird by Bird” – I liked it.
Published on March 13, 2005 at 10:29 pm. Linking to this article? Thank you! The permanent address is http://www.todayiwrite.com/journal/bird-by-bird.html
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