Self-help · Book club
Bird by Bird book club questions
Here are 12 book club questions for Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. Copy them, print them, or bring them up one at a time.
Bird by Bird is Anne Lamott's guide to writing and the creative life, grown from a course she taught at UC Davis and developed over years of writing novels, essays, and journalism.
Anne Lamott · 1994 · 4h 20m
Full summary and key takeaways →The 12 questions
- 1.
Lamott's shitty first drafts idea is liberating for many writers and anxiety-inducing for others. What is your relationship with bad early drafts? Do you allow them?
- 2.
When have you applied the bird-by-bird principle successfully to a large project — breaking it down to a size you could actually work on? What made that possible?
- 3.
What does your KFKD radio play? What are the specific voices of self-doubt that most reliably accompany your creative work?
- 4.
Perfectionism as fear: in what area of your creative or professional life are you using perfectionism to avoid finishing something?
- 5.
Lamott says close attention is the fundamental skill. How good is your attention? What did you actually notice today that you might have missed in a less attentive state?
- 6.
She covers envy as information about desire. What is a recent instance of creative or professional envy you felt? What does it tell you about what you want?
- 7.
Lamott writes about the importance of starting: even if you can't see the whole, you can write one true sentence. What is the one true sentence you could write today about the project you're most avoiding?
- 8.
The book talks about writing groups as support structures. What kind of community currently supports your creative or professional work? What kind of community would most serve it?
- 9.
How much of your creative output is blocked by the belief that the first version needs to be good? What would your output look like if you removed that requirement?
- 10.
Lamott writes honestly about the writing life's disappointments — publication doesn't fix everything, success doesn't eliminate self-doubt. Does that make the prospect of creative work more honest or more discouraging for you?
- 11.
She says writers succeed by showing up. What does showing up look like for your most important work — not the heroic days, but the ordinary ones?
- 12.
Bird by Bird is about writing but it uses the writing life as a lens on a larger question: how do you do meaningful work without being crushed by the gap between aspiration and ability? What does that question mean for your own work?
How to run the discussion
- Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
- Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
- Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
- Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.
Themes worth steering toward
If the conversation stalls, these are the threads that usually restart it.
Common questions
What are good book club questions for Bird by Bird?
Here are 12 book club questions for Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, ordered to open easily and end somewhere worth arguing about. The strongest openers ask what each reader noticed rather than what they concluded, and the discussion usually turns on writing, creativity, perfectionism.
How long should a book club discussion of Bird by Bird last?
Most groups run 60 to 90 minutes of actual discussion. That is roughly six to eight questions, not all of them, so pick the ones that suit your group rather than working down the list in order.
What are the main themes in Bird by Bird?
Writing, Creativity, Perfectionism, Process, Craft. Those are the threads most likely to divide a room, which makes them the useful places to steer a discussion that has gone quiet.
Picking the next one? See books like Bird by Bird or questions for other book club picks.
