Welcome to Life and Art from FT Weekend. I'm Lila Raptopoulos. The great American writer Anne Lamott was in her early 40s when she published her best-selling book, Bird by Bird. The book's a kind of writing manual, but it doesn't give you writing exercises or help you optimize. Instead, it just climbs right in with you and reminds you to take things one step at a time,

accept your worries and self-doubts, and keep going.

I love this book because I am, like many people, as Anne has said, a mixed grill of happy anticipation and dread. There are a lot of simple lessons

that I need to relearn over and over and over again, and Anne's work pulls them together

better than anyone else's I know. It's honest, and it works. Many of Anne's books are like this.

Since the 1990s, she has been writing about topics like parenting and

faith and writing and addiction as she's 38 years sober. And recently, at 70, she's come out with her

20th book. It's an exploration of love called Somehow. Anne is joining me today from her home in

Northern California to share some

wisdom. And welcome to the show. It's a real honor to have you. Thank you, Lila. I'm really happy to

be here. I wanted to start just by asking, how are you? Where are you? How's your day been?

I'm having a really wonderful day. I'm having an unusually

wonderful day. And I, um, paradoxically, I'm going to a memorial service for one of my older

brother's best friends. They had a large family and we grew up across the street from them.

And, um, and I'm sad for him, but I'm also

glad he didn't have to stick around and suffer. And all the kids I grew up with, starting 65

years ago in kindergarten, will be there this afternoon. And that's a very, very profound gathering of

people. Yeah. Wow.

Of course, also I'm a Christian, so I believe death is just a really significant change of address.

Yes.

I'm going to ask you about death, actually.

I strangely am looking forward to it.

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