Anne Lamott One Inch Picture Frame

The one inch frame is a concept by anne lamott.

Anne lamott one inch picture frame.

17 the exercise helps keep the writing to small actionable chunks of daily work. Writing is like driving a car at night. Anne lamott talks about this in bird by bird saying it reminds me that all i have to do is to write down as much as i can see through a one inch picture frame. One of the tips for writing that lamott mentions is to use a one inch picture frame as a point of reference for what to write.

Write as much as you see through the one inch picture frame. Fill the frame she tells them as they write. She tells herself she only has to. There is however one piece of her advice that has always baffled me and that is the one inch frame.

I read her book bird by bird. Some instructions on writing and life. She describes hyperventilating over the enormity of the task facing her as she sits down to start her next novel and calming down when she notices a one inch picture frame kept on her desk to remind me of short assignments. If you want to see how much i enjoyed reading it check my review on goodreads here.

Focus on writing the one inch portion of the story that needs to be written. Those smaller portions will weave together to form the larger narrative. The genius of the whole method hinges on the one inch picture frame lamott instructs students to put on their desk. Lamott then describes how she sits down to write each day and how she is utterly unfocused until her glance falls on the square one inch picture frame on her desk.

This is all i have to bite off for the time being today i m focusing only on what i can see in that one inch picture frame and nothing else. One idea she had was to write short assignments about as much as you can see through a one inch picture frame. In a voice as resonant with humor as with wisdom hard won lamott advises writers to focus only on what can be seen through a one inch picture frame a lovely idea that has often consoled me when i struggle at the page. And my more arresting financial problems and of course the orthodontia i remember to pick up the one inch picture frame and to figure out a one inch piece of my story to tell one small scene one memory one exchange.

I picked up anne lamott s book bird by bird some instructions on writing and life. She addresses feeling blocked or stuck as a writer and sitting at her desk mind wandering nerves all a glow when she reaches for her one inch picture frame.