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The Big Books of Summer 2025

Ask the Author: Anne Lamott

“Ask me a question.” Anne Lamott

Answered Questions (7)

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First, thank you - your books on finding faith were the first that helped me believe it was ok to be feminist, pro-choice, pro-equality and still be a believer. I used to think conservatism was a pre-requisite to claiming that faith. So my question, as one liberal Christian to another, is what authors do you read on topics of faith?
Anne Lamott I read and love Mary Oliver, Denise Levertov, Frederick Buechner, Thomas Merton. Mary Karr's spiritual memoir "Lit". C.S. Lewis.
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I'm currently battling breast cancer and all of the awful things that go with it. I read your book "Help, Thanks, Wow," over an over, because so many different passages speak to me, especially as someone who had a less than ideal childhood, so thank you so much. However, I seem to be able to relate to "Help" and "Thanks", but somehow can't move to "Wow" yet. Do you have any advice on how to bridge that gap?
Anne Lamott Well, as I quote in Stitches, Mr Roger's mother always said, in the aftermath of tragedy, "Look to the helpers.". There's always SO amazing. Wow. Go outside and look around--and up--and at the green shoots breaking thru the concrete at your feet. Wow. Can you BELIEVE how you are managing your care and healing and attitude? Wow.
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Six months ago, I lost two young friends of mine. As a person of faith, it's been incredibly difficult to think about the afterlife in their regards since neither believed in God. Many Christians have been shoving Heaven and Hell down my throat, claiming that final judgement reached them. How do you handle losing someone of different beliefs in relation to your own faith?
Anne Lamott I would cut these people off by the middle of their second sentence. I would say enthusiastically, "That is not my understanding of God's Love and grace, but hey! Thanks for sharing."
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I have read your books and get so much from them. I wonder where you,or if you, have a limit on sharing your life in your writing? Your honesty and openness astonishes and is so refreshing.
Anne Lamott I write about stuff that is personal but that I KNOW is universal, too. I share my private with family and just a few friends. I would never tell family secrets, because I am so close to my brothers and cousins. I I don't want them showing up and wrecking my holiday dinners.
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One of the experiences you share in your writing is that of having had an abortion—can you share some advice about discussing this topic compassionately with conservative Christian friends, who seem to prefer spouting talking points to engaging the (woman's) human cost in this topic?
Anne Lamott I don't personally find it useful to talk about abortion, Obamacare, immigration, or the environment with my conservative friends. We will NEVER change each others' thinking, and will ruin the meal or coffee or mood by trying. I ask myself frequently, "Would you rather be right, or would you rather be happy?". That settles for me.
People get to think what they want, and I do, too. But I hate arguments and debate--I always have since I was a little child. I do what I can to advance the causes I so passionately believe in, and I try to tell the truth, and then I have it to let it go at that.
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Stitches is such a wise and calming book. Were you inspired by the work of any other people as you were writing it?
Anne Lamott Well, I began it the day after the shootings at Sandy Hook, because I wanted to be able to talk and listen to any Sunday School kids who might show up a few days later. I was sick with shock, and wondered, "How can there be meaning and a sense of safety for kids and parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles after Sandy Hook?". And I remembered novelist Barry Lopez saying that ultimately, as we have in the face of anything is compassion, and stories. So I started there, with a few stories that I thought might help in the chaos.
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I enjoyed your book "Bird by Bird" and found the advice to write about just one bird at a time, very helpful. It was a new idea for me, and very good advice. In today's writing environment, do you have advice for unknown authors to capture the interest of an agent? Building a platform before publishing a book is difficult, yet everyone seems to want a platform before they will even talk to a writer wanna be.
Anne Lamott Thank you. The modern reality is, in one very important realm, the same way it's always been: you have to write a terrific book that people will want to read, because you have labored over it to get it just right. You have poured your heart, soul and intelligence into it, for a long time. You have addressed important aspects of our lives--love, family, meaning,betrayal, aging, coming through hardship--whatever. And you have told us your version, in the truest, most reliable voice you can muster, so that we want to spend a week with you, every night after dinner or before bed. If you display a wonderful sense of humor, so much the better.
I've never actually heard the word "platform" in this context, so there are better people to ask, ie, people who know what the word means.
But first--write the best, most amazing book you can, the wisest, most honest, most human book you have inside: we are starving to death for this ina culture that mostly traffics in appearance and surface. Let a couple of friends read it and give you their opinion. Write the book one more. We used to call this putting in through the typewriter one more time." I'm talking about RE-TYPING it, so you can get to know it at the most intimate level--not gussying it up on the computer.
Then find someone who critiques and edits professionally--have garage sales etc to raise 1500 dollars. Sell the treadmill. Someone good will read it for $1500. If you think his or her comments are good, make the necessary changes.
Keep making the book better. Cut it by 1/4. (Sight unseen, I bet it is too long. Takes out half the details, descriptions, and lies.)
Have more garage sales. Hire a good editor to mark it up. Make the changes. Then send it out. I think if it is unique, interesting, well written, and ABOUT something, you'll find an agent.
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