Happy Birthday, Anne Lamott

photo from the PRX website (http://www.prx.org/pieces/19657)

From today's Writer's Almanac ...

It's the birthday of the writer Anne Lamott, born in San Francisco (1954). She had already written three novels when she got pregnant and decided to keep the baby, even though the baby's father left when she told him that. Her book Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year (1993) was about her struggles with motherhood and her Christianity. It got rave reviews.

Her book Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (1994) is often quoted and referenced by writers both beginning and seasoned. The title is from her father's advice to her 10-year-old brother, who was struggling with a report on birds that had to be completed in one evening.

She wrote, "[He] put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, 'Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.'"


Happy Birthday, Anne. You are a treasure ... a true treasure in this world.

Dog Photos by K. Smokey Cormier

I was invited to participate in the "Dogs on Camera" photo exhibit sponsored by the Frank Bette Center for the Arts in Alameda, Ca. We were supposed to go and photograph dogs at the specified dog parks in Alameda during the weekend of February 5 & 6. Then pick one of the photographs to submit and then see if it was selected for the show. We could submit only one photo! I showed the one that I submitted. You can see it here. But I thought I should also show you readers the other ones that I thought were good. Here they are ...

Howdy.

The Queen

All photos (c) 2011 K. Smokey Cormier