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1-Page Summary of Bird By Bird

Overview

The Pyramid Principle is a book that explains how to logically structure written documents and presentations. It’s used by almost every major management consultancy on the planet because clear communication is more important now than ever before. Bird by Bird is a classic guide to writing and living a writer’s life, with lessons from Anne Lamott about discipline, commitment, and focus necessary for honing your craft.

However, Lamott shows that becoming a good writer doesn’t just mean establishing a solid routine. You also have to observe your surroundings and look into yourself for material.

In this passage, you’ll learn how to find your true writer’s voice and create unforgettable characters that readers will remember. You may become a great writer with this information.

In this book, you’ll discover how to overcome writer’s block and write a shitty first draft (that’s so important). You’ll also learn why it’s good to identify your true voice as an author.

Big Idea #1: If you want to be a good writer, then you need to write about everything that happens around and to you.

While there is no secret formula to becoming a good writer, there are some essential steps. The first step is learning how to relax and stand apart from everyone else. Good writers have the ability to observe everything around them and take notes as they go along.

The writer’s job is to describe what she sees and experiences. The writer needs to relax so that nothing escapes her notice, but rushing the process will not help.

Therefore, you have to learn how to pay attention. You should observe your surroundings by watching people’s actions and listening to their words.

Observing the world around you is critical to becoming a good writer. Writers need to tell the truth, and this requires them to observe their surroundings. You should collect these observations for use in your writing. Whether or not you think they’ll be useful isn’t important; it’s more important that you look for the truths within those observations and figure out how to incorporate them into your writing. Using personal experiences as material is fine because writers have freedom over what they write about. They can turn over events from their past like soil, searching for truths buried deep within them.

You should remember your past experiences. The trick is to examine them critically and write about them from your own unique perspective, just like you would with anything else around you.

Big Idea #2: You have to be honest with your reader in order to find your own voice.

One factor that makes a writer great is their unique voice. Their words convey details, and they tell the story in an interesting way.

The only way to develop your own voice is by being honest with the reader.

You can’t discover your authentic voice without confronting the truth behind some of your feelings. That’s why you need to be a writer: to dig into those truths and find ways to express them in words that reflect what you’re feeling. This is especially true when you feel grief or anger, because only by examining those emotions closely will your writing convey the full extent of how they affect you.

To be true to yourself, you have to accept your feelings. You must be present in them and feel them fully. If you avoid or ignore your emotions, then you’re not being honest with yourself.

When you are comfortable with your feelings, you realize that the experiences and emotions of life are what make up who you are. You can be yourself in this place, which is a nice feeling to have. Once you accept this idea, it’s easier to express yourself and find your own voice as a writer.