A misunderstanding

I got Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott for Christmas, and I started reading it yesterday.  I read a bit more today and put it down for a moment.

It's about writing, and it's called that because the author's brother had three months of school project about birds to do in one day.  He was overwhelmed by this task, and didn't know where to start, so their dad told him to take it bird by bird.

Mr Perkins appears to have misunderstood.