Book #1: Writing Down the Bones

The first time I came across Writing Down the Bones was about two (or three?) years ago, on someone else's blog. The blogger was praising the book, and suggested it to everyone who was into any kind of writing and looked for some sound advice. I immediately looked up the book, and was glad to find out that the SEAS library at my university had multiple copies of it. The following day I borrowed one, read it in a couple of days, enjoyed immensely, and found it utterly inspiring and full of useful ideas about the practical side of writing. However, due to lack of time, I never managed to write a proper review of the book, neither did I take notes, underline or copy out those ideas of Goldberg that I found the most beneficial. So when I was about to graduate, and knew that I might not have the chance to access the book again, I made sure to have it photocopied, so I could reread it once I had the time. (I could not buy a proper copy of it at the time, since it hasn't been republished since the '80s.) It had been lying around on my shelf for over eight or ten months, when, a couple of weeks ago I picked it up and dusted it off, in a desperate attempt of trying to trick myself into starting writing again.

After reading it for the second time, I still find it quite useful; as a matter of fact, I believe it is a must read for all of us, aspiring writers ( or should I say dreaming but actually not writing writers?). You should certainly read it, if for nothing else, than for simply because it will make your fingertips itch, it will make you want to write write write. Just for the sake of it, just because you breath, eat, and drink writing, because it's your destiny and your doom, your dearest friend and wickedest foe, because you cannot imagine your life without putting pen to paper, without your fingertips hitting the keys of the keyboard and making that sweet clickety sound that soothes your soul ever so comfortingly. 

Indeed, that's the best piece of advice you could ever get: just write. Just write day and night, today, tomorrow, and every day, hour after hour for the rest of your life. Just listen to the inner voice, write from the heart, write down the bones, write out the shitty part, write to the core. Stick to it, and you will get there. Just write, and fuck the rest. And then you are going to get  where you are supposed to get with your writing. That is what I am taking from Writing Down the Bones.

Nevertheless, here are some more tangible advice from Natalie Goldberg.

• "Trust in what you love, continue to do it, and it will take you where you need to go. And don't worry too much about security. You will eventually have a deep security when you begin to do what you want." (2)
• "Consider the pen you write with. It should be a fast-writing pen because your thoughts are always much faster than your hand. (...) Feel the connection and texture of the pen on paper. (...) Write in cheap notebooks. That way you won't feel compelled to write something good. You have permission to write the worst junk in the world. Give yourself a lot of space in which to explore writing. (...) Experiment. Try writing in a big drawing pad. It is true that the inside world creates the outside world and our tools also affect the way we form our thoughts. Try skywriting." ( 5-7)
• "The basic unit of writing practice is the timed exercise.

1. Keep your hands moving.
2. Don't cross out.
3. Don't worry about spelling, punctuation, grammar.
4. Lose control.
5. Don't think. Don't get logical.
6. Go for the jugular." (8)

•  "Capture the oddities of your mind. First thoughts have tremendous energy. "(9)
• "This is the practice school of writing. Like running, the more you do it, the better you get at it. Some days you don't want to run and your resist every step of the three miles, but you do it anyway. You don't wait around for inspiration and a deep desire to run. (...) If you run regularly, you train your mind to cut through or ignore your resistance. You just do it. (...) Once you're deep into it, you wonder what took you so long to finally settle down at the desk. Through practice you actually do get better. You learn to trust your deep self more and not give in to your voice that wants to avoid writing." (11)
• "My rule is to finish a notebook a month. Simply to fill it. That is the practice. I am writing for myself, I don't have to stay within my limits. (12)
• "One of the main aims in writing practice is to learn to trust you own mind and body, to grow patient and nonagressive." (12)
• "Have a page in your notebook where you jot down ideas of topics to write about." (19)
• "It is important to have a way worked out to begin your writing. (...) [Yet,] one just has to shut up, sit down, and write." (24)
• "Seperate the creator and the editor when you practice writing." (26)
• "Don't worry about your talent or capability, that will grow as you practice.(...) We learn writing by doing it." (30)
• "This is how we should write. Not asking 'Why?', not delicately picking among candies, but voraciously, letting our minds eat up everything and spewing it out on paper with great energy. (...) Simply step out of the way and record your thoughts as they roll through you." (34-35)
• "Allow yourself to be awkward. You are stripping yourself. You are exposing your life." (36)
• "Writers end up writing about their obsessions. Things that haunt them; things they can't forget; stories they carry in their bodies waiting to be released. (...) After you write them down you can put them to good use. You have a list of things to write about." (38)
• "Use original detail in your writing. Be aware of the details around you. Use details. They are the basic unit of writing. If you use details, you become better skilled at conveying your ecstasy or sorrow." (41-46)
• "Writing is physical. It has to do with sight, smell, taste, feeling, with everything alive and activated." (50)
• "Writing, too, is ninety percent listening. (...) The deeper you can listen, the better you can write. You take in the way things are without judgment, and the next day you can write the truth about the way things are." (52-53)
• "Basically, if you want to become a good writer, you need to do three things. Read a lot, listen well and deeply, and write a lot. And don't think too much.(...) If you read good books, when you write, good books will come out of you." (53-54)
• "Don't tell, but show. Don't tell us about anger, but show us what made you angry. Don't tell readers what to feel. Show them the situation, and that feeling will awaken in them." (68)
• "Be specific. Don't say fruit. Tell what kind of fruit."(70)
• "Writers are great lovers. They fall in love with other writers. That's how they learn to write. They take on a writer, read everything by him or her, read it over again until they understand how the writer moves, pauses, and sees." (79)
• "It is important, especially for a beginning writer, to make clear, assertive statements." (85)
• "Write in cafes. Make a list of cafés, restaurants, and bars you've been in. (...) Also, please, note: don't forget to try writing in laundromats." (93-94)
• "Writers write about things that other people don't pay much attention to. (...) A writer's job is to make the ordinary come alive, to awaken ourselves to the specialness of simply being. (...) Learn to write about the ordinary" (99-100)
• "There is no perfection. If you want to write, you have to cut through and write. There is no perfect atmosphere, notebook, pen, desk, so train yourself to be flexible. Try writing under different circumstances and in different places. (...) If you want to write, you will find a way no matter what." (101-102)
• "If you want to write, write. If one book doesn't get published, write another one. Each one will get better because you have all the more practice behind you." (108)
• "Have a tenderness and determination toward you writing, a sense of humor and a deep patience that you are doing the right thing." (109)
• "When you want to write in a certain form - a novel, short story, poem - read a lot of writing in  that form. When you read a lot in that form, it becomes imprinted inside you, so when you sit down to write, you write in that structure." (124)
• "See the big picture. You are committed to writing or finding about it. Continue under all circumstances." (135)
• "If you find you are having trouble writing and nothing seems real, just write about food. It is always solid and is the one thing we all can remember about our day." (138)
• "Trust your own voice and write from it. (...) Something good will come out. Have patience. (155-158) 
• "Wait a while before you reread your writing. Time allows for distance and objectivity about your work. (...) As you reread, circle whole sections that are good in your notebooks. They can be beginning points for future writing." (162)

And above all:

• "Just write, just write, just write. In the middle of the world, make one positive step. In the center of chaos, make one definitive act. Just write. Say yes, stay alive, be awake. Just write. Just write. Just write." (101)