Bird by Bird IX: Revenge of the Bird

Today in Anne Lamott's "Bird by Bird," she writes about giving. Lamott explains the giving can lead to a happier life, and in return keep writing less stressful. In addition to that kind of giving, however, Lamott also explains the importance of giving everything you can to the piece of writing that one is working on. Too many times people are caught up reserving energy. It's human nature. In some areas, like sports, reserving energy can be a good thing. However, when it comes to writing, it is important to give everything one can. It isn't possible to wear out talents and skills that involve writing.

Lamott emphasizes that this is an important step in being a strong writer. If someone gives everything they can on a piece of writing, they will feel proud and accomplished of their work. However, if someone gives their work a good shot, but not give everything they can, then they will end up feeling unsatisfied. This feeling of dissatisfaction can lead to some confidence issues in writing, and these issues could damage future writing.

Also, Lamott explains the importance of giving care. She talks about how giving to others can improve writing too. According to her, giving creates an "innocence" in the writer that allows for them to write in more details about certain emotions.

Lamott is writing this to experienced and inexperienced writers alike, as they both could give more. To me personally, this will help me motivate to give more effort to my papers. I always used to say to myself that I could write a really good book/paper if I gave enough effort, but many times I just give what I need to get a good grade, and my paper could be much better. Overall, Lamott is very wise in sharing how giving can lead to better writing skills.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Differences Between Telling and Showing

Showing vs. Telling Writers are faced with a choice when they wish to explain something. They can either tell it in straight facts or they can show it by describing how it feels. Telling provides the reader with pure information that they have to process, while showing can appeal to the reader's senses describing how something appeared. Emma Darwin writes about this on her blog . She gives detailed information about how telling or showing their audience something can have very different effects. Darwin also briefly explains how telling or showing can apply a distance between the reader and a character. For example showing can be used to make the reader feel like they are they character, and telling can explain a story in a third person perspective. Darwin’s audience likely consists of students that are learning writing techniques, authors, or possibly teachers. They probably stumbled upon her blog while researching showing and telling. I most like about the article that i
Read more

Bird by Bird VIII: Rogue Bird

Image
    In this week of Bird by Bird , Anne Lamott writes about her last class for teaching her students. One major topic that she talks about is consciousness. This type of consciousness is not literal, but instead refers to how vivid writing should be. This type of writing allows for the text to be more personal to the reader. For an example, if a story has a part involving a kid it is important to reflect on some of the joys that the reader likely had as a child. This will add nostalgia to the piece, making them feel emotionally attached to the writing.     This is important to me because I struggle with making a piece of writing be more personal to the reader. Whenever I am struggling to find a way to do so, I will think about Anne Lamott’s last lesson she teaches in Bird by Bird.     I like how Lamott says that if what a writer types is real, then the audience will enjoy it. This got me thinking, and I realized that she’s right. Many people will join a cause if it is presented to
Read more

The Voice in Writing

Image
Writing with Voice There are many ways a writer can make their texts unique. In Henneke’s article, “How to Find your Writing Voice,” the author writes about how using a voice can differentiate one’s writing. For example, certain traits like enthusiasm can help keep one’s writing unique. Knowing more about writing with a voice, I will more likely have a different word choice depending on the occasion. For example, if I am writing party invitations to friends I will be more likely to use slang or other informal words. If I am writing a letter to my boss I will have a more formal voice. Formality is only one trait of many in a voice. The audience of this article is likely consisting of people who are trying to see how word choice affects writing, students learning more about writing, and similar authors. I like Henneke’s argument on how it can be appropriate to change your voice to appeal to different readers. For example, if you are writing an article about pain
Read more