Bird By Bird Analysis

In the essay “Shitty First Drafts”, Anne Lamott addresses aspiring writers on the subject of the dreaded first draft. Lamott uses a disarmingly humorous tone to illustrate the value of putting pen to paper and writing shitty first drafts. Lamott goes on to say, “The first draft is the child’s draft, where you let it all pour out… knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later” (234). The essay successfully delivers this message by use of its light and conversational tone. This amicability aids the essay by allowing the precise communication of the author’s ideas, by portraying the author personably and empathetically, and by allowing the author to finally advise from a place of authority and practicality.

Based on his argument using a piece of story from his past, the writer conceptually supported his explanatory point of views on how skills can be developed with a passion of understanding the writer’s intention. I believe that the writer of this article addressed fundamental thoughts that should be useful in the process of reading as a writer, and on how to become a better writer.

Lamott compares the process of writing with the painful process of pulling the teeth. She believes that in order to produce a high quality writing, the author must first put together all their ideas and thoughts in form of the “child draft”. This draft determines the flow and dimension

She comically writes about her struggles with the inner critics telling her their opinions on her writing. Lamott advises that in order to get to a well written final draft, it is imperative to silence inner critics in order to begin the writing process. Lamott uses her own experience as a food critic to describe how she would attempt to begin her writing process but could not produce anything useful. She then shares her key to overcoming this block: to just start writing. Lamott’s entire essay is focused on this idea.

Stephen King, in his chapter titled “Toolbox” in On Writing, aims to convince the struggling writer that taking simple steps to organize a metaphorical box of writing tools will improve their writing. He does so through the use of organization, substance, and style and by appealing to his audience with logical examples to support his claims. “Toolbox” is, in summary, a crash course given by King on writing improvement. He depicts the fundamentals of good writing as levels of a toolbox then demonstrates how and when each writing tool should be used (King 106-107). The chapter is a veritable response to the question, “How can I improve my writing?” which one can imagine King is routinely asked as a world-renowned author. He already enjoyed an immensely successful writing career when Hodder published On Writing in 2012, so King wrote the chapter “Toolbox” as literary advice to fellow writers by drawing from his own success (“Stephen King”).

Whether while writing an essay or a birthday card, we have all struggled to find the proper words to illustrate our thoughts or feelings from time to time. Upholding the occupation of a writer would multiply that struggle tenfold. An occupation that depends on interesting, fluid pieces of writing every submission requires an adequate number of attempts and patience. Lamott expresses that writers “all often feel like we are pulling teeth” (Lamott), which proves the difficulty of writing is still there no matter the level of writer behind the work. Lamott also emphasizes that a writer “has to start somewhere” and shares her friend’s ideas in her writing to simply “get something - anything - down on paper” (Lamott). Lamott, and the other writers mentioned in this piece, carry incredible track records, while still admitting that perfection did not come initially, or even easily. Thus, proving that the Shitty First Draft has a place in any writer’s notebook or Word document. Lamott’s admission to struggling to properly begin a piece of writing surprised me, given of her success. I could not imagine a woman of her accomplishments stressing out over a food review, yet I felt relieved that someone of Lamott’s title relates to an amateur writer like myself. I often put off my writing as well when I cannot articulate a proper introduction. I do every other possible homework, or shy away from homework in general because the

Lamott 's effective persuasion was greatly due to her reflection on the writing process that writers go through and at the same time informing her audience the importance of first drafts. Most people assume that accomplished writers can easily write something they could be proud of, but that is not the case. According to Lamott, all good writers write a not-so-good first drafts and “this is how they end up with good second drafts and terrific third drafts” (Lamott, 191). For the most part of a writing process, mistakes will be made and it will most likely not contain everything the author wants to say. Lamott addressed new writers that the first draft is where writers assemble their ideas making it the most important step to a writing. Lamott pointed out many times that first drafts will not be

In Anne Lamott’s essay, “Shitty First Drafts,” she explains her writing philosophy of just getting ideas down on paper and then editing them later. While some disagree with this method, such as George Dila in his critical response, “Rethinking the Shitty First Draft,” many writers employ this technique to not only better their writing, but to overcome obstacles in the writing process. Even the most successful of writers will say that they actually hate writing, Lamott even compares it to pulling teeth. The intimidation of just starting to write becomes too much and leads writers to procrastinate. For many, an overwhelming, overbearing sense of perfectionism creeps in and creates anxiety and often lead to writer’s block. Everyone writes first drafts, but if a writer allows themselves to let go of all personal judgment and permits their writing to be “bad,” then they will most likely end up with great ideas that they did not even know were inside their heads. Once these ideas are allowed to flow out, then it becomes easier to visualize a realistic way of developing them into a full composition. By writing inferior first drafts, writers can focus on and express their ideas while overcoming the difficulties typically associated with the writing process.

One of the main concepts Lamott stresses in her novel, Bird by Bird, is writing about the characters in a way that helps

Watching this film Bird by Bird about this writer named Annie, showed us how she takes her life and writing as free flowing but also have the opposite side of having road blocks with hard to swallow situations .It is rather interesting how she expresses her writing in a such real raw vibe that people can make a connection from her writing. They way she handles herself in real life transfers onto how she approaches her writing, which to me I find it a rare quality in a creative person in this type of area. Why I find it is rare is because usually a writer has a format to go about to write a short story or any other format there is rules to go by but she however does not apply that in fact she does the complete opposite. How she goes towards writing is by emotion and does not sweat the fact whatever idea she trying to jot down on paper she is not worrying about having the idea to be perfect in the minutes she is taking to get her idea on paper.

In A Worn Path by Eudora Welty Phoenix Jackson’s seems to in a phase of daydream and the real world. Miss. Jackson’s encounters with the dog, the young hunter, bird’s especially…quail, and the ghostly scarecrow. These four symbols seem to play more than just close calls with death. The first encounter that Jackson, comes across are birds these creatures change throughout the story and are motifs particularly the quail. Usually the type of quail is hunted, for its meat and eggs this could as mean that Miss. Jackson is being hunted, but also being watched from above.

Everyone knows what writing is to one extent or another, but we all have different definitions of how it should be done and varying degrees of seriousness about the art. We all have a process of writing, but each is unique to ourselves and our own experiences. Annie Dillard and Stephen King are two well known authors who have published many pieces, two of which describe how they view the writing process and let their readers get a peek of what goes on through their minds when they write. These two pieces are Dillard’s The Writing Life and King’s “What Writing Is.”

Writing may be an enthralling experience for one and a clever way to decompress for another. In general, however, writing has different purposes for a variety of people. “Why I Write,” written in the late 20th century by Terry Tempest Williams, describes various reasons for writing narrated from a female’s perspective. The short essay begins in the middle of the night with a woman engulfed in her own thoughts. She abruptly goes forth by reciting the multiple reasons why she continues to write in her life. Through a variety of rhetorical devices such as repetition, imagery, analogies, and symbolism, Terry Tempest Williams produces an elegant piece of writing that offers the audience insight into the narrator’s life and forces the audience to have empathy for the narrator with the situation she is incurring.

Figuring out the meaning of life has burdened mankind to find and attach some purpose to each of our ordinary lives. Whether that purpose originates from religion, family, or in the case of Birdman, our career, we all try to perceive our lives as meaningful. This concept of wrestling with our purpose falls under the philosophy of existentialism. Jean-Paul Sartre’s attempt at defining his perspective on existentialism, and what humans need to do to make their lives meaningful, is best manifested in the movie Birdman. In Birdman, Riggan Thomson is an aspiring broadway playwright who got his start in hollywood as the leading actor in action-packed blockbuster. He devotes all of his energy and time into this play he wrote, directed, and starred

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