What You Really Needed

December 29, 2010 @ 3:59 pm | Filed under: ,

“But I still encourage anyone who feels at all compelled to write to do so. I just try to warn people who hope to get published that publication is not all that it is cracked up to be. But writing is. Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. That thing you had to force yourself to do—the actual act of writing—turns out to be the best part. It’s like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony.”

—Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird


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Comments

9 Reponses | Comments Feed
  1. Heather says:

    This is why I love publish-your-owns like Blurb. No matter who likes it, who doesn’t, I can still order nicely bound copies for friends and family. My five year old daughter can hold a book in her hands that her mommy wrote. Who cares that it’s self-published. She doesn’t.

  2. Karen Edmisten says:

    I love Bird by Bird.

  3. sarah says:

    That quote is just perfection.

  4. Eileen Smithdeal says:

    This is so Great, so true. Thanks for posting. I miss you, dear friend 🙂

  5. Ellie says:

    Ah, I am fond of Anne Lamott. I was lucky enough to see her at a booksigning once, and to speak with her afterwards. She’s just lovely, very personable.

  6. Susan T. says:

    Yay. Love that quote.

  7. The Sojourner says:

    I need to read Anne Lamott someday, apparently. (Though I think I’ve read half of her book already in quotes scattered across the internet…)

    I also need to write the post percolating in my head about the moment that, for me, makes it all worth it.

  8. Hannah says:

    OH, I loved Bird by Bird! It was recommended to me by Kate DiCamillo when I met her at a booksigning, so of course I immediately put it on hold at the library. No one writes quite like Ms. Lamott!