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Drowning in an Ocean of Debt?
Attack the problem “Bird by Bird.”
I am currently reading a wonderful book by Anne Lamott called Bird by Bird. The book is written by a writer to help other writers improve their craft. As someone new to Medium, how can I pass that by? I desperately wanted to read the book when I heard about it. After I finally got a copy, I reflected on the title — it seemed a bit odd. What do birds and writing have in common, I wondered?
I was pleased to find the answer to my question early on, in the second chapter of the book. Ann recounted a memory where her brother, who was 10 years old at the time, was required to write a school report on birds. He had three months to write the report and, as many students do, he had not started the formidable task until the night before it was to be handed in. Her brother, overwhelmed by the undertaking, was almost in tears. Ann describes the scene as her father, a writer himself, stepped in to help. “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.’”, she wrote.
Those words not only satisfied my curiosity and answered my question about the name of the book but really caused me to think. I wondered about the other kinds of colossal tasks we face that could be completed if only we attacked it “bird by bird.”
