Love Lamott

So. I realize it has been ages since my last post. Thanks for checking back. It has been almost a month since I heard Anne Lamott speak (see previous post for background info) but luckily I took a few notes to jog my memory. I first read Anne Lamott when I happened to pick up her book Bird by Bird. I loved it so much that when I found another one of her books, I had to buy it. Nevermind that it was a book about her son's first year and this was way before I had kids. Operating Instructions was so real and so funny and so honest. I went and bought it for my friend, Barb, who had just had a baby. (That baby is in high school now- OMG!). Well, since she loved it, too, I figured I must be on to something.

I have also read Hard Laughter (novel), Traveling Mercies, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, and Grace Eventually. I seem to like her non-fiction better than her fiction for some reason. Maybe because she comes across as such a real person with flaws and defects and issues. Yet she has faith and is not shy about sharing it. I like this about her, too: She is not a right-wing religious fanatic with a closed mind. And frankly, people like that are very hard to come by these days. Most of us left-wing people of faith are very quiet. That's why we're getting stomped on, I suppose.

So, here is Anne Lamott. Her grandparents were Presbyterian missionaries. Her parents were...atheists. Really. They were really annoyed that Anne had faith. They thought it was very unintellectual of her. And if you read enough of her work, you find that she did not go looking for it. It just happened. It quietly crept up on her and helped her when she was a serious drug and alcohol addict. How can you explain that to an intellectual? You can't. Fully. But she tries.

So, anyway, Barb and I went to hear her speak. It was not without controversy as you may know. But, she was very gracious and cool and funny and brave. She started out by saying, "I know there are protestors out front and I respect that. They have a right to be here. (score!) Also, I just want to let you know that I am really tired. I got on a plane at 5:00 this morning. And I know there are some disrupters out there. So, can I ask you, since I'm really tired? Can we just do the disruptions now?"(score!) No disruptions.


So. There is no way I can fully tell you everything she said, but I will try to give a few highlights.

• You are always going to have a shitty first draft. There is no way around it. If you try to write it perfectly the fist time, it will never happen. You will have to write seven or eight pages in order to find that golden paragraph that you keep. You can't just write the golden nugget. Of course, this hold true for endeavors other than writing. "Perfection is the voice of the opressor."

• Do not listen to K-fucked radio (KFKT?). This is the voice you hear in your head that tells you how much you suck. That you shouldn't even start. Or try. That you're not worthy. Just tune it out.

• Be a human BEING not a human DOING. Don't just fly around doing everything. Take some time to just be. To sit and stare in to space. [This reminds me of a New Yorker cartoon that was on my friend's mom's wall when we were growing up. There was a very large lady sitting on a stool and the quote was "Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits." -momster]

• Insist on the right to show up. You do not have to be perfect to do so. Although it is very unusual, in America, if you are not perfect and you still insist on showing up.

• Unlearn what people have told you. Don't look back and regret not doing something. Do not break your own heart.

• The solution is in the mess. Most people want to avoid the terrible abyss but that is where the answer lies. Most of the time, we want to go around the abyss, or shop in order to decorate the abyss and make it more likeable.

• A lighthouse is meant to be a helpful guide. Everyone is a lighthouse in their own way. But you cannot be a lighthouse by running around trying to help, you have to stay put and let your light shine from where you are.

• She also spoke of David Roche and his Church of 80% Sincerity.

• Anne also read excerpts from her books. The one from Plan B was the chapter called 'The Ham of God', and the one from Grace (Eventually) called 'Wailing Wall'. I laughed so hard I cried.

• I got Anne's autograph on my program (see above), and Barb got her autograph on her copy of Operating Instructions that I had given her so long ago.

• And last but not least, here is my favorite quote from her talk: "The opposite of Faith is not Doubt, but Certainty.

Yep. Love Lamott.
(sorry about the weird spacing on this post- I couldn't fix it)