False Starts and Plot Treatment

BbB (pg 80-92)

These were really great chapters. It is so refreshing to hear a real experience that a real, successful, intelligent, witty writer has had, in which she comes very close to swearing off writing entirely. It really doesn’t inspire a lot of hope in me, however, that from what Lamott has said, this kind of thing will NEVER STOP HAPPENING! I can’t even imagine working on something for three years—that I am completely in love with—and then hearing the “I’m sorry…” that Lamott heard. That is TERRIFYING. It’s so easy to say that I am going to be a successful writer one of these days—that both the general populace and the critics will love my work in two obviously different, yet exhilarating ways. But, that’s totally not going to happen, is it? It’s not. And that is so sad. But, I guess there’s always hope. Lamott has it right here: if you work and work and work and work and work, then sometimes, sometimes, life pans out. I appreciate Lamott’s honesty.