Bird by Bird (123-150)

In this final section, the author teaches us about finding our voice. Many beginning writers tend to use popular authors as inspiration for their own writing, which is good to start off, but you should always be focused on adapting your own voice. She also goes into depth about finding your truths. In order to find your voice, you need to write about your own experience. As said by the author, "the truth of your experience can only come through in your own voice." Dig deep into your past. Write about things that caused you pain, joy, made you cry, or made you laugh.

This goes hand in hand with placing real emotion at the center of your work, another message the author portrayed. She talks about writing things that truly shaped you. These could be things that you may have never told anyone, or things that seem too dark to put into writing. Use them to express your voice and your story.

Lastly she talked about using your writing as a way to give. You should give your readers material that they can relate to. Write about things that are considered too real or too raw and emotional. Write your truths, because there are people out there who have experienced similar situations. If it feels right, write about death, or sickness, or tragedy. If you've experienced something that you think other people could relate too, write about it, and pour your entire heart and soul into it. Use emotion in your writing. Give to your readers material that will make them feel not alone in their own struggles.

Bird by Bird (89-121)

The author talks about the importance of bringing something to write with you everywhere you go. It's important to be observant when you're in public and listen for phrases or look for situations that might enhance your writing, and you'll want to write these things down every chance you get. They may spark a great story or give you inspiration when you're experiencing writer's block.

Another thing I learned was how to use your resources and the people around you. If you want to write your story about a topic you aren't an expert in, or just have a few questions relevant to said topic, talk to someone who knows all about it. Use what they say in your writing to make the story feel more real.

I also learned about the benefits of working alongside other writers. Whether this be peer-editing one another's papers or going to a writing class, it will help you in your writing. Reading other people's work will give you an idea of what works for you and what doesn't, and getting second opinions from other writer's of different skill levels will help you make your story the best that it can be. 

Writer's block affects even the most experienced of writers, and one way to battle it is to just keep writing. Write down whatever comes to mind, and go back and fix your mistakes later when you get back into your writing "groove." If you allow yourself to take a break, simply because you are experiencing this writer's block, it will be more difficult to get yourself started again. It's important to persevere through it and just keep writing. 

Bird by Bird (56-88)

Dialogue can make or break a story, depending on how well you write it. In this section, I learned that it's important to write your dialogue by tuning into your character, and writing it how they would speak. A character should be identifiable by how he or she speaks, and all of your characters should have their own voice. As you get further into writing your story, you may need to go back and rewrite a certain characters dialogue as you get to know them and their voice better. It may help to read your dialogue out loud as you're writing. Good dialogue leaves us feeling as if we are eavesdropping on the characters, and it has a way of encompassing both what is and isn't said. We should know the characters well enough and learn enough through their dialogue that we can interpret what they are thinking. The main idea that I learned from this section is that in order to write good dialogue, you need to understand your characters really well.

The next section, titled "Set Design," teaches us how to create a setting descriptive of your characters and what is happening in the story. Each room in your story should be telling of the people and things who inhabit it. This can be done through descriptive language and in depth detail of the room and how it feels or looks. The most important thing I learned is that in order to write a good setting, you should have knowledge on the setting you want to write about. For example, for someone with no experience with gardening, it may be difficult to write about someone's garden.  You will want to speak to someone who does have experience with gardening and ask them about scents, feelings, and other descriptive features of that specific setting. Once you learn more about the topic, you will be able to write about a setting that truly encompasses the characters or idea you are looking for in your story.

Lastly, I learned that it's important to get to know your characters well enough that you aren't making them do things just because it fits in with your plot. Your characters actions should represent the personality that they've made for themselves.

Bird by Bird (28-55)

Don't focus on the big picture all at once. The author of "Bird by Bird" begins this section of the reading by explaining the importance of figuring out a small portion of your story and building from there, "write down as much as you can see through a one-inch picture frame." Focus on one event, one character and there reaction to one situation, be specific. Start small and build to something much bigger. Starting broad, or trying to write down your ideas for the entire story all at once, will be overwhelming, and by reading about this, I learned the importance of starting small, "take it bird by bird."

Another idea from this reading that I can use to enhance my own writing, is the idea of "poorly written" first drafts. No writer, even professionals, can sit down at their desk and whip out a beautifully written story right away. It's important to have multiple different drafts, starting with the "child's draft." This is when you let all of your ideas pour out onto the paper, and as unorganized as they may be, you will be able to shape them in your later drafts. Write down whatever comes to your mind in this first draft, whatever feels right to you. Later, you can pick out the parts you don't like, keep the parts you love, and alter the parts that could be better. No one will read your draft until you are ready, so express yourself in anyway that benefits your writing as a whole.

In the section titled "Perfectionism," I learned that shooting for perfection, especially right away, will only bring you down as a writer. Shooting for perfection will block inventiveness and creativity. It means aiming to have almost no errors, or no "child's draft," as talked about in the last section. Without going in to "clean up the mess" of your first draft, how will you discover new ideas? Add more inventiveness to your writing? I learned in this section that perfectionism limits us from writing to our full potential, it blocks our ability to think as creatively and will eventually drive you mad. No one will ever have a perfect piece of writing, but what is a perfect piece of writing? Writing is based on one's own creativity and ideas, and is nothing that can be "perfected" to any certain standard.

The author explains the importance of understanding and getting to know your characters in the story. As you write, try to learn about your characters as if they're your best friend, create a personality that is specific to them. Don't always save your favorite characters, and don't always hurt the characters you hate. In order to make a story interesting, you need to write as things would happen in real life. Bad things sometimes happen to good people, and bad people sometimes get lucky, and this should be portrayed in your stories. An easy way to get to know your characters is to base them partially off of yourself or someone you know. In doing this, you don't want to have line after line of description. One good line of dialogue, when written in the way that you can almost hear there voice, is an excellent way of drawing your audience in and helping them better understand the characters.

Plot grows out of character. In this section, the author teaches that if you are focusing on your characters and their personality's, a plot is bound to create itself. Your plot should match the personality's of your character's, the plot should come from them, and how they'd react or what they would do. Eventually, as you get to better understanding your characters, the plot of your story will just fall in to place. It will feel right in your story and match the personality's you have been working on creating for your character's.

Bird by Bird (pages 1-27)

The beginning process of writing, although tedious, becomes more manageable by simply telling the truth. Write down any and all ideas. Tell the whole truth. Write down specific details. Allow yourself to stem off of your previously composed ideas, broadening your writing's potential. Write down everything that comes to mind, relevant to your piece of writing. After you've done this, then you can worry about making your writing good. The author uses the example of writing about your childhood. Write down everything you can remember. Your favorite shows, best friends, stuffed animals, toys, etc. Once you think of your childhood best friends, start brainstorming what you did together, your favorite hangout spots. Branch off of your own ideas. Give yourself the opportunity to write to your full potential by starting with a broad writing platform.

Sitting down to write a paper, I think anyone can agree, can sometimes be the hardest thing in the world. You might sit for hours without anything to write. Even the best writer's find themselves in this position. Persistence. A good writer knows persistence and hard work, they never lose faith. In order to compose a good piece of writing, you will have to sometimes rewrite entire pages, you will have to sit for hours trying to transfer your ideas to writing. You will need to dedicate yourself to your writing and have faith that you have the talent to do it well.
Overall, the author explained to never give up, regardless of how tedious the writing process. Even the world's best writers have days where transferring ideas to words is a seemingly impossible task. As said by the author, writing is comparable to learning scales on the piano. In order to get better you need to practice everyday. You need repetition.

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