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Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within
by Natalie Goldberg

Paperback - 296 pages Pocket Edition edition (November 1998)
Shambhala Pubns; ISBN: 1570624240 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.77 x 4.39 x 3.00
 

@Editorial Reviews

Wherein we discover that many of the "rules" for good writing and good sex are the same: Keep your hand moving, lose control, and don't think. Goldberg brings a touch of both Zen and well... *eroticism* to her writing practice, the latter in exercises and anecdotes designed to ease you into your body, your whole spirit, while you create, the former in being where you are, working with what you have, and writing from the moment. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

@Book Review
by Michele Hriciso

In “Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype,” Clarissa Pinkola Estes has recorded a story in which a woman sings flesh onto bones, making living creatures out of that which is dead. This is the challenge that we face as writers – creating flesh over the bones of our past experiences and making them live again in stories for others to enjoy. Natalie Goldberg’s “Writing Down the Bones” is an excellent guide to the anatomy of the written word.

It’s impossible to read “Writing Down The Bones” without getting fired up to write. This inspiring book even comes in a convenient pocket size version so you can take it with you when you go. That’s a good thing, because you can write anywhere life takes you, according to Goldberg. Writing away from home is just one of the many solutions she suggests to jump-start your writing.

Goldberg has written everywhere from diners to graveyards, in writing marathons and writing-booth fundraisers. She has taught the craft to novices and experts alike. Though she obviously knows her business, her instructions are free of snobbery and the exercises she includes are simple enough to be carried out successfully by even the most inexperienced writer.

The most essential of Goldberg’s suggestions is keeping a notebook - not just any notebook, but a spiral notebook with a funny cover on it that you write in by hand with a smooth-flowing pen.

“Sometimes people buy expensive hardcover journals. They are bulky and heavy, and because they are fancy, you are compelled to write something good. Instead you should feel that you have permission to write the worst junk in the world and it would be okay. Give yourself a lot of space in which to explore writing. A cheap spiral notebook lets you feel that you can fill it quickly and afford another.”

Maybe you already keep a journal, but Goldberg’s notebook concept goes beyond recording your daily life. While these notebooks will be a record of your life, your purpose will be to record your first thoughts. First thoughts tap into the part of you that is fresh and creative. That is where your best writing will come from, according to Goldberg. Of course, you need a big notebook, because a small notebook will produce small thoughts.

Timed exercises are a good way to practice writing, and Goldberg says to commit to doing the following activities for that amount of time:

1. Keep your hand 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.

Adhering to these guidelines will help you silence your internal censor, the little voice inside you that hears your first thoughts and edits them into something palatable for polite society. Editing oneself with second and third thoughts is the death of creativity, according to Goldberg, and writing practice is essential to cultivating vibrant first thoughts.

“Why else are first thoughts so energizing?” Goldberg asks. “Because they have to do with freshness and inspiration. Inspiration means ‘breathing in.’ Breathing in God. You actually become larger than yourself, and first thoughts are present. They are not a cover-up of what is actually happening or being felt. The present is imbued with tremendous energy. It is what is.”

In order to get those first thoughts down on paper, you’ll have to give yourself permission to write “the worst junk in the world.” Goldberg herself claims to have filled entire notebooks with junk.

Perhaps the most important advice in this book has to do with criticism, something all writers must grow accustomed to if they are to survive. “If you are not afraid of the voices inside you, you will not fear the critics outside you,” Goldberg says. The voices inside, she asserts, are protecting your precious first thoughts.

Writers as a group are known to be sensitive to criticism, but knowing yourself and trusting your own voice are vital to advancing your expertise as a writer. This sage piece of advice applies to anything you attempt to accomplish.

We are run by our compulsions, Goldberg believes, and if writing is your obsession, you won’t be happy if you’re not writing. “I often wonder if all the writers who are alcoholics drink a lot because they aren’t writing or are having trouble writing,” she ponders. “It is not because they are writers that they are drinking, but because they are writers who are not writing.”

It is important to write about your innermost feelings, especially the ones you struggle with, according to Goldberg. “ ...that moment you can finally align how you feel inside with the words you write; at that moment you are free because you are not fighting those things inside.”

When you write about your feelings, remember that writing is not therapy. “Writing is deeper than therapy,” Goldberg says. “You write through your pain, and even your suffering must be written out and let go of.”

Writers are always in need of support, but take care not to believe only the bad things you hear about your own writing.

“We want honest support and encouragement. When we receive it, we don’t believe it, but we are quick to accept criticism to reinforce our deepest beliefs that, in truth, we are no good and not really writers... Stop! Really stop when someone is complimenting you. Even if it’s painful and you are not used to it, just keep breathing, listen, and let yourself take it in. Feel how good it is. Build up a tolerance for positive, honest support.”

Once you have managed to get some deep, heartfelt writing done, it’s best to put it away for a while before you reread it. “Time allows for distance and objectivity about your work,” Goldberg says.

When it’s time to go through your notebooks again, read them as if you didn’t write them. Circle the good parts, the parts where you were truly present, and try typing them up. “Seeing them in black and white makes it clear whether they work or not,” she says. “Only take out the places where there is a blur, where your mind isn’t present. Don’t change words, because in this practice you are deepening your ability to trust your own voice.”

There is, of course, a place for editing and revision, but our internal editor shouldn’t snuff the life out of the bold creator. Too often, the editor – our ego – gets in the way of what is truly great about our writing.

“There should be no place in your writing for the ego to manipulate things the way it wants and to become picky. Instead, when you go over your work, become a Samurai, a great warrior with the courage to cut out anything that is not present. Like a Samurai with an empty mind who cuts his opponents in half, be willing to not be sentimental about your writing when you reread it. Look at it with a clear, piercing mind.”

Whatever we are as people will show up in our writing. Goldberg’s study of Zen Buddhism shows up in the wisdom woven throughout this book, as does her experiences as a Jew, a woman and a writer.

“We are products of the modern era – it is our richness and our dilemma,” Goldberg writes. “We are not one thing. Our roots are becoming harder to dig out. Yet they are important and the ones most easy to avoid because there is pain embedded there – that’s why we left in the first place.”

Everything that goes into your notebooks becomes a bone that will add structure to everything else you write. Spend the money on this book and let Goldberg help you become a bone collector extraordinaire

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