Ramblings

I'm reading a book called "Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott. She is an author whose other work I have not read, but will now definitely look up. This particular book is on the reading list for 1A Iconography this year, with the subtitle ‘Some Instructions on Writing and Life.’ I picked it up off of the coffee table at my house a couple nights ago, read the back cover and was instantly drawn in. The book was my roommate’s, she is the teaching assistant for the first year class this term and was reading one of their required books.

Since someone else was already reading that copy, I went to the library and took out a copy for myself. I am on the chapter about PLOT, and this woman is by turns insightful, sarcastic, and hilarious, but above all, she knows what’s going on in my head. She knows all the excuses, the distractions, the worries, and the fears. And she knows how to get past them. I attempted today to take her advice about ‘short assignments’ and ‘shitty first drafts,’ and I think I managed to get both. Hopefully I will be able to write another short assignment tomorrow and turn the shitty first draft into a readable second draft to be read by others.

I am going to try to finish reading this book tonight around my pottery class, but even without getting through it, I would recommend it to anyone who is trying to write a thesis, because she’s telling you how to write, but also giving examples that everyone can understand and relate to. And it works. Kind of. I’m still testing.