After reading through the excerpt taken from Anne Lamott’s “Bird by Bird”, I was able to relate to the concept in which she was attempting to lay out for the reader. A well distinguished author and reviewer of food and books alike, she is well experienced in writing not only narrative novels but other forms of writing as well. As a part-time writer of essays and papers, it was only until after I read this excerpt did the concepts that Anne Lamott was laying down actually make sense to me. All this time, I was one to aim for perfection on the first go around. Like any other perfectionist-person, why would someone strive to mess up the very first time around when they could attempt to do amazing and blow the assignment or task at hand out of the water? This is where I was going wrong. Instead of the fantasy of writing a masterpiece on the first go around (as I and many other young writers think occurs), it is important to just lay the foundation down first rather than try and have all these different elements slam together in one sitting. It is only after one does such a thing is where people can see where things can be added, reduced, or altered to truly create something perfect. Honestly, it is nice to know even the best of writers and authors struggle when it comes to the work they complete, and one can only imagine how long it truly takes them for a piece of their literature to be truly complete. Overall, this lesson that I have now learned is one that I am going to be taking forward in all forms of writing that I do. Instead of painting a masterpiece on the first shot, I shall instead aim to put “shit” down on paper and mold it into something better on the second and third go-round.