Anne Lamott

This article is printed here in its original form, as it was first published in 1996. —Ed.

The best writing often springs from the most turbulent lives. Anne Lamott has pulled herself out of drug and alcohol addiction, experienced a profound religious conversion, and become a single mother.

And by writing almost every day—even when drinking or walking the floor as a self-described “hormonally challenged” mother with a colicky son—she’s been able to publish four novels and two books of nonfiction.

Given the positive changes in Lamott’s life and the successes she’s had with her last two books, other writers might think she glides serenely to her desk each morning, ready to work. Confidence stoked by success, spirit shining with sobriety, and soul glimmering with her deep love of God, Lamott puts her fingers to the keys and feels the words flowing.

Not quite. In , she compares writing to climbing a mirror-smooth glacier. It’s part of Lamott’s mission to let us know that successful writers are just