Baby you can drive my car

I like when writers writing about writing get it right.

Anne Lamott, in her book Bird by Bird, really gets it right. I love how she explains that the process of sitting down to write is not just about wrestling the demons but getting the buggers to shut up, or at least quiet down. She talks about all the things externally and internally that call for your attention when you sit down in front of that blank page.
I am inspired when reading her passionate and quite funny descriptions about how hard it is to just put that shitty first draft down on the page. I am nodding my head as I read, yes, just get it down on paper, no one needs to know how bad it is to begin with.

There have already been moments of epiphany while reading this book on "the writing life." She tells her students about her approach to writing, which is philosophical and reaches deep into the "why does one write" question - their response is to ask about agents and sending manuscripts and all sorts of things about publishing. They are like the disciples in the Gospel of Mark that never quite get it - who did you say you were again?

The book is full of gems and really has me examining why I write. Lamott quotes a lot of other writers in the book. A couple of my favorites:
When asked why they write,
the poet John Ashbery answered, "Because I want to."
Flannery O'Conner said, "Because I am good at it.

To be honest, I can more relate to Ashbery's quote. I want to, I really, really want to.

So get at it - time to dig into that shitty first draft of the next novel. That reminds me of another great quote from the book.
E.L. Doctorow said that, "Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip this way."

Interview with Anne Lamott

Comments

[Lisa]

Loved this book. Between her and Natalie Goldburg, I got all the new age, Zen writing stuff I could handle. But in a good way. I like them both a lot. And I always write shitty first drafts.

Lisa

[craig]

I love her style, it sort of Zen-like at times but WAY better than Ray Bradbury's book on writing. I think I have blocked the title from my brain (because I disliked it so much) but it had Zen in the title.
I lagh outloud reading Lamott's book. It reminds me a bit of Stephen King's On Writing, with its memoir style.