“I don't think everyone wants to create the great American novel, but we all have a dream of telling our stories-of realizing what we think, feel, and see before we die. Writing is a path to...”
Work
"Hundreds of books are around that tell how to avoid bad writing. Here is one that tells how to create good writing. What a pleasant surprise. The secret of creativity Natalie Goldberg makes clear, is to subtract rules for writing, not add them. It's a process of "uneducation" rather than education. Most people are baffled at how to teach this, since teaching and "uneducation" appear contradictory. But Natalie's experience in Zen meditation, which is essentially a subtractive process, has provided her insights. Proof that she knows what she's talking about is abundant in her own sentences. They flow with speed and grace and accuracy and simplicity. It looks easy to a reader, but experienced writers know it is the hardest writing of all. It's the simple style of a Zen archer who looks like he's not even aiming, yet sends arrow after arrow to the bull's-eye time after time."--Back cover.
Quotes
Showing 1-8 of 8
Natalie Goldberg
Canonical work source
“I don't think everyone wants to create the great American novel, but we all have a dream of telling our stories-of realizing what we think, feel, and see before we die. Writing is a path to...”
“If you are not afraid of the voices inside you, you will not fear the critics outside you.”
“Play around. Dive into absurdity and write. Take chances. You will succeed if you are fearless of failure.”
“Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open.”
“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...”
“I write because I am alone and move through the world alone. No one will know what has passed through me... I write because there are stories that people have forgotten to tell, because I am...”
“How to generate writing ideas, things to write about? Whatever's in front of you is a good beginning. Then move out into all streets. You can go anyplace. Tell me everything you know. Don't...”
“I think talent is like a water table under the earth—you tap it with your effort and it comes through you.”