Post on Bird By Bird

Post On Bird By Bird

This weeks post will be on Bird By Bird by Anne Lemott. In this post I will be discussing a few sections i enjoyed, found intresting, agreed with or disagreed with.

First I wish to discuss with you the chapter Perfectionism. The first line of this chapter is what cought my eye, "Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people." this i agree with. I have been trying to write a novel for some time now but can never get to far because i always think its crap and then start over. In the Perfectionism chapter Anne Lemott talks about how the psycological trama we may have suffered through out growing up can cause use to try ans be perfect every time we do something. In a sence I agree with this, the exspectations we all try to live up to do prevent us from being sloppy and trying not to disapoint the lookers on in our life. With that being said maybe keeping this in mind will help me with my book.

Next I feel the need to talk about the chapter Polaroids. in the begining of the chapter it is stated, "Writing your first draft is much like watching a polaroid develope." i like this consept because no matter how much you have outlined and planed out, even if you have the entire story or poem word for word in your head as soon as you pen hits the paper everything goes right out the window. Some times you can start beautifully and the next paragraph as you continue to right you have gone off on a side tangent or added aspects you didnt oringinaly plan to, Maybe even cut half of the wording out and changed it because it sounded great in your head but was stupid as you wrote it. Like i said this section was good for me i enjoyed and agreed with the concept.

"How do you know when your done?" Anne Lamott says "You just do." Not completly but i some what disagree. In some cases mainly what i have seen with poetry the "You Just Do" statement can be correct , but at the same time i believe that if you are writing a longer piece of work, say a novel, You have a set end point. Maybe you dont know how its going to be worded or discribed, but its there in your mind saying " this is where ill stop". From that point you can always decide to make a second book if you  get more ideas or even add things in but the end is SET....

Timothy Akom