bird by bird

As a scared and lonely college freshman, I was exposed to a book in my introductory Creative Writing course that forever changed how I look at writing and how I look at life. The book is called Bird by Bird and is written by Anne Lamott. After reading an excerpt in class, I found the book on the 3rd floor of the library; it had a worn, red hardcover with the gold initials A. L. I opened it up and found this story on the inside cover. 'Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. 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.' After reading La...