"We Ride, Really!"

It has finally happened; my last book on writing has been read. Of course I will read many more, but for right now the required ones are finished and I can write about the last one. After that, we are on the road of writing!

Because the instructive books were great in length and shared a wide range of tips, I have a limited amount of things to share with you from this book. Nevertheless, Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird gave me hope. There were moments when I thought her writing was over the top in humor, even crude in some aspects. However, there were also pages that brought tears to my eyes as she conveyed her trust in every aspiring. Though she does not know me, she spoke to me on a level that no one else has. One thing I can say about these books on writing is that it is beautiful to have someone who is a writer relate to you. We live in a world where we feel alone most of the time, but these books reach out and tell you to keep writing no matter what because your words will break through someone's heart. Lammott touched me, and even though the book was tedious to get through, I feel that I will be a stronger writer because of her blind faith in a stranger such as myself.

Alright, now to the tips I have promised. After this post, I am only revealing the writing practices that I have done myself, so enjoy these tips while you can because you may just lose interest in the posts that follow.
Please excuse the random order. As I said, there is a lot more to the book than I will summarize, but they are probably in previous posts or I already knew them.

• Almost all good efforts begin with terrible first efforts. 
• Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism. It is also the voice of the oppressor. **I took this to heart because I am a known perfectionist. It's time to start trusting myself and understanding that the key to my success is knowing when to stop and hand it to an editor. 
• Read all of your dialogue, or just writing in general, out loud over and over. Just keep practicing this. Then, eventually, you'll edit people as you hear them. Listen, observe, store, and make it into a sentence. Capture life. You're a writer, so write. 
• Trust yourself to hear what your characters are saying, not the other way around....I am guilty of not doing this, so I read this page a few times. 
• Understand your characters and story. The example she used was to understand like Anthony Hopkins understood Hannibal Lector. If he hadn't, then what would Silence of the Lambs be like? 
•  Block out all of the little thoughts. Anything that doesn't have to with writing, chuck. Grab those squeaking mice by the tails and stuff them into little jars, planning to let them out later.
• Believe that you are worth it. When people write, they are broken with the most acute amount of the vulnerability. Bask in this; revel in it. Let the innocence of writing surround you, and learn to love your words. If you're a writer, words are what you are. Accept the beauty in this, and write. 
• This was just a quote that I loved very much, even laughed out loud while class was in session. "One writer I know tells me that he sits down every morning and says to himself nicely, 'It's not like you don't have a choice, because you do - you can either type or kill yourself.'" 

It is done! The tips have been listed, the writing process has commenced, and I have turned in my first five pages to my instructor. Don't worry though, the journey of my writing will continue in later posts. For now, thanks for reading, and remember to keep writing!