Bird by Bird Lesson #3

"There is ecstasy in paying attention."

Photo by Ava Sol on Unsplash

As I’m writing this, the window next to my desk is open (at least for now; it’s going to be hot today and we’ll need to turn on the A/C) and I can hear birdsong. Everything is soft and green and lush outside.

And that makes it hard to stay seated at my desk.

But we forge on, don’t we?

And haha, I didn’t even realize until I reread this to edit that I was sharing an example of what Annie talks about in the Looking Around chapter: noticing and listening. “Learning to pay attention and to communicate what is going on.”

But more about that later.

This week we are considering pages 88-121 in Bird by Bird. We will discuss the following chapters:

Looking Around pages 91-96

(I’m skipping The Moral Point of View but I’m sure you’ll all read it anyway.)

Broccoli pages 103-107

Radio Station KFKD pages 108-113

(Also skipping Jealousy, pages 114-121¹ which is a very fun rant about envy and the green-eyed monster and all that so just read it.)

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FYI, here’s the schedule for the rest of the class. (After this week, two more sessions left.)

Week Four: June 19

PP 125-169

Week Five: June 26

PP 174--finish

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General Comments

Overall, I’d call Part Two, which is this week’s selection of chapters, the philosophical section. It’s not grounded in practical processes we can put to use, rather it takes a more overarching view. But that doesn’t mean it’s less valuable.

Years ago, when I started noodling around with novel writing, I discovered something that bears repeating, though you guys I’m sure all know. It’s this: writing a novel is both a macro and a micro process. Macro in that you need to keep the arc of the whole story in mind. Micro because you need to show that arc through scenes. While you are writing, you shift back and forth.

And that is what Anne does in this book. She shares the practical, such as shitty first drafts and short assignments, and also the more philosophical. Ways of thinking about writing. So let’s get to it.