awesome. i’m a HUGE fan of notecards, and carry them (and pens) with me at all times. i’m glad to hear that there are others out there, and that they’re put to such good use. i just need a better way to carry them (insert tangent here). thanks for the info and the link to the book.

Fascinating and useful stuff!

But can you tell me of a book full of “pretense and BS about the writing process”? I’d really like to read one.

I “saw” Anne Lamott on Sunday at the L.A. Times Festival of books. I wandered by the stage where she was speaking. Didn’t stick too close to it, tho. (Had just come out of my 8th panel session in two days, and had overstuffed head and sore shoulders from schlepping my gear around UCLA for a coupla days.)

My companion and I found a patch of grass far away enough from the reach of the stage’s loudspeakers where we could sit and just rest from it all. But one thing I heard her say in passing was along the lines of the shitty draft…. She doesn’t wait for inspiration to write; it’s more of a discipline of just doing it. (Or as my boyfriend calls it, “Just showing up”). That, combined with the gentle puppy back on paper thing you described, is rather powerful stuff (actually, I know about showing up on the page already, tho I’ve been a bit more be-ratey about it of late. So the puppy-puddle-paper thing is the more powerful. [look Ma! assonance!])

Glad to see that you’ve been picking up the pace of posts here after a slower time. :)

This reminds me of a friend of mine who is of a mindset where she gets very irritated and angry at what is going wrong and mentally worries away at things and people which aren’t perfect. She also imagines a dog - one that she thinks of as a tenacious little terrior type, worrying and pulling away at a dirty old rag. When she can remember, she tells the little dog to “just drop it” and the amusement from this image is often enough to let her walk away from her irritation.

What a great analogy! It’s easy to expect too much of one’s self sometimes. I think people tend to focus too much on their failures, and often overlook the little successes that accompany them.

Few things are total failures. There’s almost always a lesson in there somewhere.

Focus on the lesson and you improve. Focus on the failure and you end up pitying yourself and making excuses (and the puppy keeps piddling on the floor) or beating yourself up (and the puppy becomes consumed by fear - and keeps piddling on the floor).

Hello Mr. Mann,

You enjoyed On Writing Well? I’m currently reading “Writing to Learn” also by William Zinsser. It’s another great piece of writing.

”[…]that we write to find out what we know and what we want to say […]”

”[…]Writing and thinking and learning were the same process[…]”

Also, “Page after Page” is another great piece of writing by Heather Sellers.

Salutations,

Fred

her “shitty first draft” is awesome and she has a great book called “Plan B” which is a wonderful read as well!

No aspiring writer’s bookshelf should be without the remarkable “If You Want to Write” by Brenda Ueland. It was originally published in 1938 but remains in print. Need I say more?

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1555972608/qid=1114710318/sr=8-1/ref=pdcsp1/102-5223098-9196902?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Oh, I needed this, thanks.

Thanks to a near disastrous miscalculation of how much work was left on a project, I was on the cusp of another cycle of self-loathing.

That was leading to babies being thrown out with bathwater.

I will now calmly put the puppy back on the paper.

Might have to break down and get “Bird by Bird” from the library despite my shins-deep backlog of reading material.

I’ve been back to this page for each of the last three days.

I’m a huge fan of so many of the the things you endorse on this site, “Bird by Bird” being one of them. If only I could remember one tid line of this book for every time I’ve told someone esle they need to go buy it. It’s one of the few books I’ll reccomend to new writers (along w/Brenda Ueland’s and “Writing Down The Bones.”)

It’s almost 2am. My deadline was today. I am not ready for tomorrrow, and I’m struggling to care if it’s any good. I just have to go bird by bird. I’ll just put the puppy on the paper.

I’ve gotten tons of mileage out of Writing Down The Bones, but look at Wild Mind. It’s a fantastic look at the writer’s life.

Also look at What If? It’s a book about getting un-stuck and all of the suggestions make great etudes for writers.

Lastly, everyone needs a copy of Strunk & White. It’s ok to break the rules, but everyone needs to at least know what they are.

Thank you.

I’d say filling a 1”x1” picture frame with words is a really small assignment.

As an Off Topic aside:

read her book Operating Instructions. It is one of the funniest books I have ever read (right up there with Lamb!)

I love her writing/work.

As an Off Topic aside:

read her book Operating Instructions. It is one of the funniest books I have ever read (right up there with Lamb!)

I love her writing/work.

Taming the Rogue Intellect

43Folders, purveyor of life-organizing wisdom, has a great post about a way to think about keeping focused. My mind, and the minds of a lot of young dynamists I know, tends to want to get onto the next interesting thing before the first interesting t…

Zen and the Art of Paper Training

Whenever I go back to my writing books (‘cause it’s always better to read about writing than actually do it), I end up pulling Bird by Bird off of the shelf. Looking at one of my new favorite blogs today…

Zen and the Art of Paper Training

Whenever I go back to my writing books (‘cause it’s always better to read about writing than actually do it), I end up pulling Bird by Bird off of the shelf. Looking at one of my new favorite blogs today…

Put the puppy back on the paper

This line is from Anne Lamott’s book, Bird by Bird. I read about it at 43folders.com. I haven’t read Anne’s book, but I will just because this guy sounded so excited by it.

a little patience

Here is a nice sentiment from the 43 Folders blog. The quote is from Anne Lamott’s book, Bird by Bird: Try looking at your mind as a wayward puppy that you are trying to paper train. You don’t drop-kick a puppy into the neighbor’s yard every time…

testing the waters

I gave my last speech last night. There are two assignements left to do. The hardest part is done. Last night I dreamed I smoked a marlboro light. 100s. Theif was also in the dream. I dislike it when I dream about him. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could….