Short Essay on the Story "Bird by Bird"

Writers have a hard time dealing with psychological issues that the story they are writing provokes. Every story is as unpredictable as a journey that one makes driving a car, only seeing a little distance in front, not aware of where they will pass through. A story reader only understands what is on the page that they have already read, not knowing what they expect on the few pages to come. While one is reading a story, one may expect to see a condition X, but the author leads them to a different situation Y. For instance, if one chooses to write an autobiography of themselves, they may start the story from their childhood days, making the audience think they can predict the writer's life which might not be the opposite of the expectations.

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Life is never a straightforward experience, and every time one writes a story, there is a high likelihood that the story will lead the audience to episodes that they never expected (Lamott 1995). Only the writer usually knows every point that is in the story, and the rest are usually in the dark until when they read the whole story (Lamott 1995). The author of the story Bird by Bird also found himself in such a condition where they had to widen around various angles of life as he presented the experiences he went through (Lamott 1995).

Writing some stories requires one to have the ability to deal with panic. For instance, when a writer is writing an autobiography, they might have to deal with some emotions that might mount while writing their story (Lamott 1995). The author of the story Bird by Bird says he had to deal with panic and other undesirable emotions that emerge because of remembering some moments in life when the author had some horrible moments (Lamott 1995). For instance, the author says that remembering that he was jobless makes him have a hard time while writing the story. The author had the worst emotion that the author felt was disillusionment (Lamott 1995). The author is hopeless about ever getting a job, and that is why he says he doubts if he will ever be employable. The author describes his efforts to deal with those undesirable moments saying that he tried to breathe in and out. Still, the breathing ends up being another desperate action, which makes him breathe harder than usual, what he calls "Asthmatic death rattles." Just like the author says, like a person telling a story of a painful experience they have gone through, it is common for them to run out of control and allow emotions to control them (Lamott 1995).

Despite the fact that one may have experienced some painful moments, what motivates them to keep moving is hope. (Lamott 1995) Hope makes one see a great future in the times when they have already given up in life (Lamott 1995). The author says that after some time, he sees himself as a great person in the future, hoping that after some time, the problems will be nowhere (Lamott 1995). It is at this time that the author remembers that he was supposed to write and not think about the problems that he was facing (Lamott 1995). The author has to now write everything that he was thinking about, the sad and the sweet experiences that they have experienced, and not to cry about the problems that he has experienced. After overcoming the emotional issues that had disturbed his writing, the author organizes the points that he will have to write (Lamott 1995). He says that he had to write now that one paragraph about the situations in which he found himself (Lamott 1995). He had to write about the family background in which he found himself and the situations in which he was born (Lamott 1995).

Once an author becomes emotionally stable, they can now write a story of their life in a composed and organized manner. The author tells us that after dealing with emotions, then he decided it was right to start his story with his hometown (Lamott 1995). The author tells us he had to write about things that were happening during his childhood, giving an example of the time when trains had just started passing in his hometown (Lamott 1995). The author says that he is now able to describe his early experiences, saying that he will picture every experience that he has had. He says that he was now ready to work on his word processor to describe every experience he had (Lamott 1995). The author says that he finally wrote the story, described every experience that he had gone through, and presented it in the best way possible (Lamott 1995). In the story, the reader gets that the author described some situations that he could have left out, were it not for the initial emotional issues that the story provoked. Now the author has described the financial crisis, joblessness, and other issues that had experienced.

When one starts to read a novel, one may be unable to see the experience that the author had while writing the story. The circumstances around the story might not be visible, but that does not mean the author was emotional while writing the story (Lamott 1995). Some people experience the worst emotional situations while writing their autobiographies. Some even become depressed from remembering experiences that they have gone through in life (Lamott 1995). Emotions are also important in writing the stories as they motivate the authors to describe their experiences best, therefore making the readers enjoy the most while reading the story. Though a story starts from a blank point and passes through unpredictable corners, finally the reader gets a clear view of the entire description after reading the entire novel. Every story is as unpredictable as a journey that one makes driving a car, only seeing a little distance in front, not aware of where they will pass through. As a journey, the story might not be straight since it is impossible to go through a journey using a completely straight way just like an author cannot tell the story without describing other situations around the story.

Works Cited

Lamott, Anne. Bird by bird: Some instructions on writing and life. Anchor, 1995.