When in Doubt, Let it Out

I am nowhere near, and I probably never will be close to, Anne Lamott's level of writing. Throughout her life, she has picked up several tips on how to write and not only that, but write well. Tips on things like writer's block, how to research and have other's help you, revisions, listening to your intuition and so much more.

The piece of advice that Lamott has talked about that I find most important is to follow your intuition. When you begin a book, you may not know exactly where it will end, but if you listen and pay attention to the work and let it lead you, it will end wonderfully. You may feel hesitant about doing the work, but if you just go with the flow and let happen what will happen, it has the potential to be a masterpiece. Anne talks about an old Mel Brooks routine in the chapter titled Broccoli where a psychiatrist tells his patient, "Listen to your broccoli, and your broccoli will tell you how to eat it." Just like listen to you your work and it will tell you how to write it or what the next step is.

I loved the advice about intuition because a lot of the time I find myself pushing too hard for an idea that I'm not even happy with. If I just see what has been written and follow my intuition, I can write a story that flows and ends well. Not only this, but I feel that it's a piece of advice that can be used elsewhere too. Following your intuition on just about anything can eventually lead you to the right place. I feel that this advice goes well with the revision process she uses as a writing technique. Sometimes once you write something it's still not all quite right. When you write you may see something that you didn't before and your intuition can tell you to scratch what you just wrote and try another approach.

All in all, I loved everything that Anne Lamott used to get her points across. She was so down to earth that it made it easy to understand and interesting to follow. She was a normal person like you or me that just so happened to pick up a few tricks along the way that made her a fantastic writer. Thankfully, she passed these tricks on to some of us less-than-fantastic writers and I hope that we can make her proud.