Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within

by Natalie Goldberg

When I reread my notebooks it never fails to remind me that I have a life, that I felt and thought and saw.

At this point your unconscious and conscious selves meet, recognize each

other, and become whole. This is art.

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. But it is human nature to want to intrude and butt in with picky mind, so give your ego something to do. Let it type up your work, address the envelopes, lick the stamps. Just keep it out of your writing.

An artist exudes vitality; a spiritual person exudes peace.

But, says Katagiri, behind the peace of the spiritual person is tremendous liveliness and spontaneity, which is action in

the moment. And an artist, though she expresses vitality, must behind it touch down on quiet peace; other...

we can just begin to write, simply begin to write what we have to say.

“The book took a year and a half to write. At least half of the chapters came out whole the first time. The biggest struggle was not with the actual writing, but working out the fear of success, the fear of failure, and finally burning through to just pure activity.”

Anything we fully do is an alone journey.

We have an idea that success is a happy occasion. Success can also be lonely, isolating, disappointing. It

Over the years what I’ve watched is that people don’t let themselves burn. They don’t let their passion be alive and then feed it.

You have to somehow address your whole life.

Our whole culture is built on busyness.

What does our true heart want? We have to give it at least 50 percent. Otherwise we fill our whole life with busyness. I

Daily life is very seductive.

Weeks go by and we forget ...

What I’m talking about is work that wakes us up.

How do I communicate through language,

The reader’s mind yearns for meaning.

“Make writing your practice”

It’s a longing that comes from the bottom of the well.

So it’s good to sit with it for a while and let it burn deep. Do a lot of writing practice around it.

I’ll tell you, when you start writing a book, you go under for a long time.

Writing is the one thing in my life I continually show up for.

this is where i need to get to