Hello there.  My name is Randy Pilon.  Should be fairly obvious by the title of the blog.  This blog is for the Creative Writing 201 class at Eastern Michigan University, which I'm currently taking as a way to help enhance my writing skills.  I'll be graduating in December (about time!), and I'm really excited about it.  But anyway, on to the reading that was assigned for this week.

I have a bit of a bone to pick with Anne Lamott.  The first part of "Bird by Bird" that we were assigned to read was one of the more difficult selections I've ever had to read for a class.  Not because I had trouble understanding it.  I get it, but what made it difficult to read was the fact that she kept repeating, for twelve pages, one simple idea.  Sit down, ignore distractions, and write about your life.  I understand that concept.  I also understand her point that writing can make you crazy.  I understand those concepts on page four.  By page fifteen I'd like to see a little more substance coming into play.  Reading doesn't usually cause me to go through the sort of mental breakdown that Lamott says writing causes, but while I was reading this excerpt from her, I started wanting to pull my hair out.

The Short Assignment part of the Lamott reading is a little bit more interesting that the first part, and it introduces us to why the book is called "Bird by Bird" (I'm assuming this is a book excerpt, I could very easily be wrong though).  The whole point is made significantly quicker than it was in the first part.  I have to say that I agree with Lamott on her points here.  You should try to keep focused on just a smaller part of the writing as you have to and then continue on.  By focusing on just a paragraph, or as Lamott says, a one inch picture frame at a time, you can avoid the majority of the mental issues that the first section says you should be worried about.

Back to the first section of the Lamott reading.  I enjoyed the poem that she reads to her students, and found it to be a rare humorous break from what was otherwise a rather tedious read.  The little anecdote about her son and his swearing when trying to get into the house using his plastic keys also kept the excerpt a little interesting and humorous.