Bird by Bird Discussion
We’re drawing nearer to the end of the Bird by Bird discussions. This has been a great book so far, and I want to thank everyone who has taken part in one or more of the discussions.
Last week we talked about Writing Groups and Someone to Read Your Drafts, both of which inspired me to get out and meet other authors. This week we’re talking about Letters and Writer’s Block.
This chapter may be short, but it’s certainly just what I needed to hear. Writing letters to someone you know can be such a lovely and intimate experience that it’s no wonder all writers don’t start out their story ideas as a letter.
I have many projects going on right now and one of which that I don’t know where it’s going or what it’s doing, and I’m not feeling it at all. I think the letter technique would be a great way to explore the possibilities. I also have a biography of sorts going that I think would be great to address to my future daughter.
This is such an awesome yet simple idea, and I wish I had thought of it.
“There are few experiences as depressing as that anxious barren state known as writer’s block…� – Anne Lamott
That’s certainly true!
I’ve never quite heard writer’s block put like Lamott puts it: looking at the problem from the wrong angle. However, I’m inclined to agree. I have two novels I’m working on right now. One I’ve been working on for a while and can’t seem to get a handle on, and one for NaNo that is for some reason coming surprisingly well.
The first has a sort of discomfort and pressure associated with it. I just can’t seem to figure out the right angle to look at it to figure out what’s going on.
I wasn’t very keen on this chapter, to be honest, until the end when she said, “Do your three hundred words then…� Earlier I thought that she was saying just leave the writing to another day, which I did once…for a long time. But as long as she’s saying fulfill your commitment with something and then don’t worry about it, I can completely agree.
~
Don’t forget to read Writing a Present and Finding Your Voice for next week’s discussion.
November 11th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
I know I’m a few days late on this - I was on vacation.
The Letters chapter was interesting because it was a technique I’d never heard of before. I may try it with my 11 year old female character in the shitty first draft I’m working on right now.
Writer’s Block - I can’t say I’ve so much experienced writer’s block as I have experienced put my novel on the back burner for paying writing jobs and then had trouble picking it back up.
I do like the idea of writing 300 words a day though. That seems very managable. Maybe if I commit to 300 words a day on my novel, despite how much paying work I have at the moment, I could chip away at it bit by bit. I think I’m going to try that.
It’s funny how I had never heard of this book two months ago, and now I see it everywhere. I saw a copy of it at a used book store, a stack of them on the “notable paperbacks” table at Barnes and Noble just a few days ago, and when people see me reading it they say how much they loved it and Ann Lamott. I feel like the last one to the party.
I just last night finished reading her novel Blue Shoe and enjoyed it immensely. She really is not afraid to allow her characters to go anywhere they have to go. It was interesting to be reading her book on how to write a novel and one of her novels at the same time.
November 12th, 2007 at 5:04 am
No worries on being late. It’s all good.
I feel the same on the Letters chapter. I’ve used letters to get me writing, but I’ve definitely never used them in the way Lamott suggests.
Haha. More like writer’s procrastination, like me. I have never felt truly blocked, just very close to it with one of my current projects.
I like the minimum amount of words per day. I keep reminding myself that I like editing and I can only do that when I have something written.
Don’t feel like the last one to join the party; I only heard of it because I posted up a request for recommendations here a few months ago. I haven’t actually read anything else of hers yet.