Summary: “Getting Started” and “Short Assignments”
Lamott emphasizes telling the truth and says it is a primary
component of good writing. She advises her students to start by
writing about their childhoods. If the enormity of this topic seems
overwhelming, she suggests starting with memories of their first
few years of school. However, the important thing is to just begin
writing something and to capture the details of some event. If this doesn’t
work, Lamott advises writing about a particular holiday. Ultimately,
writing is simply a matter of sitting down and plunging in. Writers
may suffer from insecurities, worries, and distractions, but it
is crucial to continue to write and persist with faith, despite
the obstacles the mind might throw at you.
Lamott emphasizes that something salvageable can often
be found, even in a piece of bad writing. Writers must be open to
the twists and turns their stories take, even if those twists and
turns result in an entirely different story than the one they originally planned
to write. Her students respond to Lamott’s writing advice by asking
how they can find an agent. But Lamott continues to emphasize the
actual process of writing rather than publication.
Lamott’s students are fixated on being published. She
repeatedly cautions both her students and her readers that publication
is not some magical solution that will rescue writers from the hardships
of reality.
In “Short Assignments,” Lamott states that novice writers should
always start with short assignments so they are not overwhelmed.
Lamott then describes how she sits down to write each day and how
she is utterly unfocused until her glance falls on the square, one-inch
picture frame on her desk. The little picture frame reminds her
to focus on just a small piece of the whole story. When a writer
starts with a small focus and then widens it gradually, the story
will come together more easily.
Lamott describes the advice her father gave to her brother
when he was overwhelmed by a school project on birds. Her father
told her brother to take it “bird by bird.” Along those same lines,
Lamott advises her students to focus on small steps, rather than
on the entire project.
Analysis
In Part One, Lamott discusses her students’ response to
her methods of teaching and suggests that her students are too concerned
with getting published. Lamott is far more interested in teaching
them how to write. Additionally, as she points out, there is no
secret to publishing success.
