On Anne Lamott's writing procedure

I've heard of her. The family bookcase holds several of her books. I have several writer friends who adore her.

So, I made it this far in life and have yet to read any of her stuff?  Yup.

I am taking English 102-which is more writing based than English 101. We were assigned to read Ch. 7 from our textbook (Between Worlds). 


And what does Ch. 7 open with?
An excerpt from Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird. 


We have to write who-really-wants-to-know page essay on the topic of our choosing. In the opening Ch. 7 "essay", we learned about short assignments. Or as Lamott puts it; writing an essay/story "bird by bird".

What?

So, we basically tell ourselves that we will sit down for a little bit and write the description of the river. That's it. You can go now. You wrote today. You basically write the essay bit-by-bit. Whenever I have to write an essay, this is (somewhat) what I've been doing. Somehow Lamott makes it seem cooler, hipper, more amazing.   Saying I'm going to write something bird-by-bird makes it fun. After all, writing is suppose to be fun, right?

I added Bird by Bird to my to-read in 2012 list.