“The writer's job is to turn the unspeakable into words - not just any words, but, if you can, into rhythm and… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
That thing you had to force yourself to do-the actual act of writing-turns out to be the best part. — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Very few writers really know what they are doing until they have done it. — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Everything takes me forever. It's all lurch, flail. I hope that is good news to you writers. — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
My experience as a writer is that you really do write seven and eight pages to find the paragraph you were after… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“Being a writer guarantees that you will spend too much time alone -- and that as a result, your mind will begin… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
My dad taught me that to be a writer is a decision and a habit. It's not anything lofty, and it doesn't… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
The best thing about being an artist, instead of a madman or someone who writes letters to the editor, is that you… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“This is our goal as writers, I think: to help others have this sense of wonder, of seeing things anew, things that… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“You must risk placing real emotion at the center of your work. Write straight into the emotional center of things. Write toward… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
I don't write about the intimate details of my cousins and aunts and uncles, and my mother and my father because it's… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
I got one of the five golden tickets to be a writer, and I take that seriously. I don't love my own… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Write straight into the emotional center of things. Write toward vulnerability. Don't worry about appearing sentimental. Worry about being unavailable; worry about… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Tell the truth as you understand it. If you're a writer, you have a moral obligation to do this. And it is… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
I quit my last real job, as a writer at a magazine, when I was twenty-one. That was the moment when I… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Try to write in a directly emotional way, instead of being too subtle or oblique. Don't be afraid of your material or… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
To be a good writer, you not only have to write a great deal but you have to care. You do not… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
We write to expose the unexposed. Most human beings are dedicated to keeping that one door shut. But the writer's job is… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“I heard a preacher say recently that hope is a revolutionary patience; let me add that so is being a writer. Hope… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. that thing you had to force yourself to do--the… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“I try to write the books I would love to come upon, that are honest, concerned with real lives, human hearts, spiritual… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“No one has expressed it better than a great novelist I heard once on a talk show who said something like "You… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean/ they… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life,… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“I don't know why I get jealous, since you don't make money or get any attention for it, but I guess it's… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“About novel Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott. Q: What does the title "Imperfect Birds" mean? It's a line from a poem by… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
I know some very great writers, writers you love who write beautifully and have made a great deal of money, and not… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“I honestly think in order to be a writer, you have to learn to be reverent. If not, why are you writing?… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
I still encourage anyone who feels at all compelled to write to do so. I just try to warn people who hope… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“You are lucky to be one of those people who wishes to build sand castles with words, who is willing to create… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
I've written six novels and four pieces of nonfiction, so I don't really have a genre these days. — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed the soul. — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Needless to say, there was no one around remotely fitting the description of a normal person: I was at a writing conference. — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“If you don't know where to start, remember that every single thing that happened to you is yours and you get to… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
My gratitude for good writing is unbounded; I’m grateful for it the way I’m grateful for the ocean. — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
For me, being a writer is not an altered state. It's very ponderous, and very - it's like being a shoemaker. — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“But you can't teach writing, people tell me. And I say, 'Who the hell are you, God's dean of admissions?” — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
I guess he'll have to figure out someday that he is supposed to have this dark side, that it is part of what it… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
It's funny where we look for salvation, and where we actually find it. — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Why couldn't Jesus command us to obsess over everything, to try to control and manipulate people, to try not to breathe at all, or… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you're going to spend… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
And yet, I do believe there is ultimately meaning in the chaos, and also in the doldrums. What I resist is not the truth… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
Raising a child, whether or not it is yours, is like Nautilus of the heart and soul. — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“I heard a preacher say recently that hope is a revolutionary patience; let me add that so is being a writer. Hope begins in… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
“I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won't have to… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
We are going to die, as is everyone we adore - I hate this! But the question is, how do we live as women… — Anne Lamott Copy Share Image
