The website has several regular features, including one where they interview a writer about how he or she pulled off some fantastic story, and a new one about where writers work. (The first installment featured my friend Cassie Willyard’s super cute Brooklyn apartment.)

I’m in the latest edition of Ask TON, in which they ask three editors and me about using quotes. I love quotes. And yes, you can quote me on that.

Recently I’ve been feeling a bit down about writing and this book kept wandering by me. People were mentioning it on freelance listservs. So I decided it was time to reread it.

You never know what will happen when you reread books. If you haven’t read Pride and Prejudice since your early 20s, I recommend it–it is a completely different book now. I was surprised to learn when I read it last year that Mr. Bennet is kind of a jerk, and an awful lot of the characters are very immature young people. It’s still a very good book, it’s just different.

Bird by Bird hasn’t changed that much in the last 10 years. It still makes me laugh out loud and the chapter entitled “Shitty First Drafts” is still totally inspirational. Here’s an excerpt from that chapter:

I know some very great writers, writers you love who write beautifully and have made a great deal of money, and not one of them sits down routinely feeling wildly enthusiastic and confident. Not one of them writes elegant first drafts. All right, one of them does, but we do not like her very much. We do not think that she has a rich inner life or that God likes her or can even stand her. (Although when I mentioned this to my priest friend Tom, he said you can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.)

Anne Lamott. She’s a funny lady.

The main surprise is that the book is mostly about writing fiction–I’d forgotten that. But fortunately a lot of the principles are the same. In fact, nonfiction seems a little easier. I don’t have to clear my mind so I can listen to my characters and figure out what they want to say. I already know what they said, because they are real people who said it to me, and if I need to I can call them back and get them to say more things.

I haven’t finished my reread, but I’m already feeling better. I’ve been surprised how many of my writer friends haven’t read this one–you should really pick it up.

Amazon link (Or go to a bookstore. Sigh. Remember bookstores?)

I expected a “There it goes!” and you go home. I was wrong. The shuttle took multiple loops around the area, including one pass right over the Mall. It was flying low and slow. It was awesome.

If you haven’t already worked this out from everyone else’s pictures, the shuttle rides on the back of a 747. The Washington Post did a fun online animation showing how the shuttle gets up there.

We weren’t exactly alone at the Lincoln Memorial. It was a great place, though – while there were a lot of people, it didn’t feel crowded, and wow, the views!!

Here’s the shuttle on its last pass through downtown, before it went out and looped around the Beltway, past Andrews Air Force Base and Goddard Space Flight Center:

And, finally, out to Dulles again.

I like how all those cars just stopped dead on Memorial Bridge. Space shuttle traffic jams–that doesn’t happen every day.

READ, READ, READ

It’s no secret that great writers are great readers, and that if you can’t read, your writing will often suffer. Similarly, if you can read but have to move your lips to get through the longer words, you’ll still be a pretty bad writer. Also, if you pronounce “espresso” like “expresso.”

If you’ve forgotten what the trees looked like a couple of weeks ago, I posted a bud picture in early March. Then the experts were predicting the peak would come next week, but now they’re saying the peak is tomorrow. It looked like peak to me today–very few bare branches and almost no petals on the ground.

Ok, fine, you can have another flower picture.

pictures: me

And, for a bonus, here are some ducks I saw poking around the Tidal Basin. My guess is canvasbacks, but I’m not very good at ducks. Anyone know any better than me?

Duck update, Monday 3/5: I believe the consensus of my Facebook commenters is Lesser Scaup. The head is more scaup-shaped and the bill is lighter than a canvasback.

Some kind of fly, maybe? I don’t know my bugs well enough. There were three of them wandering around at sunset.

Ok, this isn’t a series, but I did post a picture of a bug on my window once before. I wonder how many it takes to make a series? Three? Five?

How come there were no projects to build life-sized inflatable whales when I was there, I ask you? It’s just not fair.

At left, the t-shirt design by Ayrel Clark.

Really, I shouldn’t say poop is a great “love” for me–more of a great “interest.” Either way, it’s a cool shirt.