My personal book club (Meeting 2) and a FREE book just for you!

Welcome back to my personal book club. (don’t worry I’ll tell you about your free book in a moment)

Because the chapters are so short, for this next book club gathering, I’ve covered the first three chapters of Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.

They all have to do with the hardest part of writing. Getting started.

I’ve always struggled with starting. When I studied music, the first notes were the hardest. I worried I would hesitate and then come in late or set the wrong tempo or begin in the wrong key.

Those fears could paralyze me. I didn’t trust my abilities. It was a handicap to everything I did. And that uncertainty made something that had been joyful (making music) become something that was terrifying. And eventually, I stopped.

Lamott tells her students on the first day of class, “good writing is about telling the truth.” Writing has taught me that. If what I am writing is true – to my experience, from my heart, in my words – then I am the only one who can tell this story. The words don’t have to be perfect. All I have to do is trust my heart, because I can fix my words.

It’s just words. And words can be changed. You can recover from a fumbled first word. These first lessons from Lamott free her students free up to write.

She starts by telling them the story of when her brother put off an assignment, a report on birds, until the night before it was due. He was in tears, sitting at the kitchen table with paper, pencil, and bird books. Their father (also a writer) told him, “Just take it bird by bird, Buddy, bird by bird.”

We don’t have to see the entire journey, just the few feet in front of us. Lamott talks about her one inch picture frame and the idea of only filling that much. Write a paragraph, a setting, a character’s experience. Maybe it’s because I’m a pantser, but it’s a huge relief to realize that I don’t have to have the entire thing worked out, I just need to write some small piece of it.

The trick is to do it every day. Not just when you feel like it. Lamott goes on at length about how hard it is for her (and her writer friends) to write each day, but also how important it is – it’s the only way you become a writer.

The other big advice, and she’s become famous for this bit, is to give yourself permission to write ‘shitty first drafts’.

When you embrace that advice – write it all out, write badly, write far and wide, empty yourself onto the page without censor – it frees you to write from your heart, to be vulnerable, to take risks.

Later you can decide what stays and what goes, but in the first draft – let it all hang out. No one will see it but you. (Although Lamott does joke often about being terrified she will die before she has a chance to go back and edit that first draft.)

When I teach writing, I like to say that you write for yourself, but you edit for your reader.

How about you? Are you writing shitty first drafts? Have you given yourself permission to write badly? Do you struggle to get started? Are you taking it bird by bird?

And now- the free book! If you haven’t already subscribed to my twice monthly newsletter, get yourself on the list. Click here to subscribe. The next one comes out this Saturday and will have information on how to download my book, Live Intentionally: 65 Challenges for a Healthier, Happier Life for FREE.

Hey, thanks for reading. I know you’ve got lots of options, so thanks for sharing a few of your minutes with me.

Honored,

Cara

If you’re curious about what else I’m up to, check out my website, CaraWrites.com.

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My latest novel, Blind Turn is a mother-daughter story of forgiveness in the aftermath of a fatal texting and driving accident. It won the Womens Fiction category of the American Writing Awards in 2022. Learn more about it and find out how to get your copy here.

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I’d love to connect with you on Facebook, twitter, or Instagram, and I’m thrilled to get email from readers (and writers), you can reach me at carasueachterberg@gmail.com.

My book, 100 Dogs & Counting: One Woman, Ten Thousand Miles, and a Journey Into the Heart of Shelters and Rescues is available anywhere books are sold, but if you’d like some help finding it (or want to read some lovely reviews), click here.