Bird by Bird, p.1-43

"Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. you can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole journey that way" (page 18). I picked this quote because one of my personal struggles with writing is not being able to micromanage it because I am a very type-A person. I can't outline a story and plan every single little detail and plot point like I could in a more academic piece of writing. I just liked it because it reminded me that writing doesn't have to be perfect and writing bad drafts is ok as she goes on to mention later in the reading.
"The good news is that somedays it feels like you just have to keep getting out of your own way so that whatever it is that wants to be written down can use you to write it" (page 8) This one again relates back to my raging perfectionism because if I can map out how to do something perfectly, especially if it requires my precious free time, id rather not do it at all. I am the #1 person who gets in my own way when it comes to writing, especially since I have been feeling painfully uncreative since this quarantine started. I liked her tip to just simply sit down at the same time every day and start writing, to make yourself do it even if it's not good.

A lot of what spoke to me from the book so far related back to not having to create perfect pieces every single time you sit down to write, practice makes perfect!

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