Writing - one step at a time

I’ve discovered another quote that describes the process of writing in much the same way as the EL Doctorow quote I mentioned last week.

Anne Lamott uses an anecdote to illustrate the point:

“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.’”

I enjoy Lamott’s down-to-earth attitude to writing. She explodes the myth that writing a novel will somehow solve all a writer’s problems – from their terrible bank balance to their low self-esteem.

I’m a victim of that little myth myself. Through the months I spent writing my first novel, I allowed myself a little “when my novel is published” daydream. And okay, it was fabulous for a time. It did well, and I was spirited into the world of international launches.

But sadly, I’m still poor. I have since read that an unbelievably small number of writers anywhere in the world can live directly off the proceeds of their books. I do sometimes find myself, in intimidating situations, muttering to myself: “Never mind him. I’ve published four books. I’ve published four books”, But I still don’t always believe in myself. (Always? Who am I kidding?)

But Anne Lamott does say that writing becomes it’s own reward. And I think she’s right.