Take any beginning writing class and
it's likely Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird:
Instructions on Writing and Life will be on the reading list. The title of
the book comes from something her father told her brother, who was working
on a school report on birds: Don't think about the whole paper, just go bird by
bird. Lamott encourages writers to pick the right word, followed by a complete
sentence on to a cogent paragraph.
As we begin this month's tour of
churches ("I Haven't Gone to the Church, but I've Read the Book"
we're calling it), it's good to start with such a solid
writer. Some Sundays this month we'll be going to churches with pastors who happen to write,
but this week we went to the church of a writer, not a pastor. Lamott is
committed to her church. She writes often about the people and ministry of St.
Andrew Presbyterian; anyone who reads her, knows her church. So it was a
pleasure to have a chance to attend the church we'd previously just "read."
-- Dean
