When I first moved to Athens, I was really at loose ends. I moved here on a whim because I liked the town but I didn't have a job in place or a place to live. I stayed with friends while searching for a job. Meanwhile, what little money I had was depleting rapidly.

I had begun to give up on myself. I was losing faith that I could even find a job to pay the bills let alone carve out a space to write. One of the friends I was staying with loaned me a book by Anne Lamott called Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Having previously read Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year, I was already familiar with Lamott and found her writings to be truly inspirational. For a long time my reading Bird by Bird and landing the job I really wanted were intertwined in my mind.

A week ago, I was talking to my husband about how difficult it is to get back to writing anything when I had gone so long without doing it. His only suggestion was that I find some inspiration to just dive right in again. It was his use of the word inspiration that reminded me of the book. I checked it out of the library and began to read. And once again, I could see clearly how I had lost my way and my focus. And while I can't say that I have been on a real writing roll, I have been more focused and practicing everyday.

Bird by Bird is part writing manual, part inspirational motivator, and part autobiography. Lamott starts with a story of her childhood. Her brother had procrastinated on an assignment about birds. With the report due the next day and her brother sitting frozen at the table with stacks of books and research he was near tears. Their father sat down beside him and said "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird." This is the first real instruction that Anne has for her students and it should stay in the back of their minds as they work toward their writing goal.

The book is loaded with helpful advice to help writers get started or move forward. Advice like working with short assignments and banging out that "shitty first draft" are the backgrounds for helping a struggling writer develop their characters and plots.

While the advice is very simple, Lamott warns us about the truly difficult and complicated work that awaits an aspiring writer. The beauty of the book is being able to see the craft involved in creating it through the information she has provided. Most important, Lamott is funny. Her humor infuses every aspect of the book even when the subject matter becomes sad and almost painful. She never flinches away from telling us how difficult and sometimes just plain degrading a writer's life can be. All the while, she repeats like a mantra that all you can do is work. All you can do is take it bird by bird.

What I love about this book is that its like sitting in a writing class where there is only me and the teacher. Her voice is clear and empathetic. She understand the need to simply write to get it out even if no one ever sees it. She is patient and full of humor. She understands the grand fantasies about what it will be like to be a writer and she wants to make sure that I know that the fantasy never lives up to the reality but I should keep working anyway.

Anyone who has ever been interested in writing should read this book. She provides the necessary pieces for crafting a work along with all the practical advice you could ever need to get started and work all the way through. But the truest piece of advice that she could ever give is in the title. Just take it bird by bird.