Bird by Bird summary

by Anne Lamott · 1994 · 7 key ideas · 17-minute read

Writing (and life) gets done in small pieces: short assignments, terrible first drafts, close attention and a lot of forgiveness for yourself.

Why read it

For anyone who writes or wants to, and for anyone overwhelmed by a big project. It's funny, honest and kind, and its advice on perfectionism and first drafts helps far beyond writing.

Bird by Bird in brief

Lamott grew up with a writer father and learned early that writing is mostly about sitting down every day and trying. Her book, drawn from years of teaching workshops, is part craft guide and part honest account of the emotional mess of trying to write.

She begins with getting started: short assignments, writing about your childhood, allowing yourself shitty first drafts, and refusing the perfectionism that keeps people frozen. Next she covers the craft of fiction: knowing your characters, letting plot grow out of them, writing true dialogue, and finding the emotional truth of a story.

In the middle sections she turns to the writer's frame of mind: paying attention to the world with awe, trusting intuition, using index cards to capture observations, finding a trusted reader or writing group, and dealing with the radio station of self-doubt in her head.

Finally she addresses publication and why people write at all. Getting published, she warns, will not fix your life or your self-esteem. The real rewards are the writing itself: the attention, the discovery, the company of other writers and the generosity of giving readers something true.

The 7 key ideas

1. Bird by bird

Not the whole book. Just the next bird.

2. Short assignments

Only what fits in a one-inch frame.

3. Shitty first drafts

Let it be bad first. You can't fix a blank page.

4. Perfectionism is the enemy

Perfectionism is a jailer dressed up as a standard.

5. Write from your own life

You own what happened to you. Write it down.

6. Let characters lead the plot

Know the people. They'll tell you the plot.

7. Pay attention, and find your people

Notice everything. Write it on a card. Share it with a friend.

Key takeaways

• Break big projects into 'birds' you can finish in one sitting.
• Use a one-inch frame: write one small moment at a time.
• Give yourself permission to write a terrible first draft.
• Put your inner critics in a jar and keep working.
• Mine your childhood memories for specific, true detail.
• Carry index cards and find one trusted reader.

Our take

Bird by Bird is beloved because it is funny, humane and honest about how messy writing feels, and its core tools (short assignments, shitty first drafts, beating perfectionism) work for almost anyone. It's less systematic than a craft manual: advice on structure and revision is light, much of the material is about mindset rather than technique, and some readers find the digressions and personal anecdotes indulgent. Its focus is mainly on fiction and memoir. It has aged well because its subject is the writer's mind, which hasn't changed. Pair it with something more technical, such as On Writing Well or Story.

About Anne Lamott

Anne Lamott is an American novelist and nonfiction writer from Northern California, also known for Operating Instructions, a journal of her son's first year. She has taught writing workshops for many years.

If you liked this

• On Writing by Stephen King
• The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
• On Writing Well by William Zinsser
• Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon
• The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
• Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert