About the Book:

Bird by Bird is recommended by the Writers Guild Initiative!

Since its appearance in 1994, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life has become a staple of many creative-writing classes and an indispensable writing-desk companion for countless struggling writers.

Best-selling author Anne Lamott explores the perennial challenges writers face, like finding time to work, organizing work spaces, and maintaining inspiration.

"Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, 'Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird."

As Anne Lamott says in a typically wonderful chapter called "Getting Started": "The very first thing I tell my new students … is that good writing is about telling the truth." She explores not just the many joys of writing, but its hardships, too — the moments when self-confidence drains and energy flags. Her classic is a wonderful guide to why writers write, the process of writing, and the writerly life.

What people say:

"Superb writing advice... hilarious, helpful and provocative." — New York Times Book Review

"A warm, generous and hilarious guide through the writer's world and its treacherous swamps." — Los Angeles Times

"A gift to all of us mortals who write or ever wanted to write... sidesplittingly funny, patiently wise and alternately cranky and kind — a reveille to get off our duffs and start writing 'now', while we still can." — The Seattle Times

About the Author:

Anne Lamott is an American novelist and non-fiction writer. The bestselling author of seven novels, she has also written several bestselling books of nonfiction, including the writing guide Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. A past recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, she lives in Northern California.