The Shed Notebook: Bird by Bird

When I was teaching the Northwest Inland Writing Project to teachers we were always searching for books that would not only help teachers with the teaching of writing, but also help them as writers of their own stories.
In 1994 Anne Lamott wrote a book about writing "Bird by Bird, Some Instructions of Writing and Life" that hit the mark for both purposes. It is one writing book that I have read, reread, and revisited since it's publication. Saturday I will hear Anne Lamott speak, so I have been rereading the wisdom in this book.
What Lamott was able to do in this book is make writing nonthreatening. She gives practical advice that a novice writer or a published writer could use.  As teachers in the writing project read and reviewed her book, they felt empowered. I can do this!

One quote that has always stayed with me is "Start with your childhood, I tell them. Plug your nose and jump in, and write down all your memories as truthfully as you can. Flannery O'Connor said that anyone who survives childhood has enough material to write for the rest of his or her life. Maybe your childhood was grim and horrible, but grim and horrible is Okay if it is well done. Don't worry about doing it well yet, though. Just start getting it down."

I have been gettting it down since I read those words. I am eager now to hear what she has to say Saturday.