Bird by bird some instructions on writing and life

Summary: The author of five books, including the novels Hard Laughter, Rosie and Joe Jones, offers an "inspiring book about writing as a way of finding truth" (San Francisco Chronicle). "A reveille to get off our duffs and start writing now, while we still can".--Seattle Times. "Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, 'Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.'"

Record details

ISBN: 9780307424983
ISBN: 0307424987
Physical Description: electronic resource
remote
1 online resource
Publisher: New York : Anchor Books, 2007.

Content descriptions

Formatted Contents Note:

Writing. Getting started -- Short assignments -- Shitty first drafts -- Perfectionism -- School lunches -- Polaroids -- Character -- Plot -- Dialogue -- Set design -- False starts -- Plot treatment -- How do you know when you're done? -- The writing frame of mind. Looking around -- The moral point of view -- Broccoli -- Radio Station KFKD -- Jealousy -- Help along the way. Index cards -- Calling around -- Writing groups -- Someone to read your drafts -- Letters -- Writer's block -- Publication and other reasons to write. Writing a present -- Finding your voice -- Giving -- Publication --The last class.