The Write Spot Blog by Marlene Cullen

Tag: Writing Down the Bones

  • I knew I wanted to write . . .

    Natalie Goldberg The Art Of Writing Practice:

    “By my early twenties, I knew I wanted to write and I knew I couldn’t learn to do it through traditional writing classes. I had to begin with what I knew, something no one could tell me I was wrong about. And so, I studied my mind. As I wrote, I would discover things about my mind, how it would move, wander, settle.

    I began teaching writing from the inside out. Usually, writing teachers tell us what good writing is, but not how to get to it . . . in 1986 [when “Writing Down The Bones” was published] people were starving to write, but they didn’t know how, because the way writing was taught didn’t work for them. I think the idea of writing as a practice freed them up. It meant that they could trust their minds, that they were allowed to fail, and this helped them develop confidence in their own abilities. But that wasn’t all, I also told readers, ‘Pick up the pen, take out a watch, and keep your hand moving.’”

    — Excerpt from The Sun November 2003, “Keep The Hand Moving,” by Genie Zeiger

    More about writing practice from Natalie Goldberg.

    Join Writers Forum on Saturday afternoons in October, 2021, to practice. Free on the Zoom platform. October 2, 9, 16, 23, 1-3 pm (PST).

    #amwriting #justwrite #nataliegoldberg #practicewriting @freewriting

  • Lose Control and Just Write!

    Goldberg.SecretNatalie Goldberg expands her thinking about writing practice in her latest book, The True Secret of Writing. You may have heard these ideas before and may be familiar with her other books, Wild Mind and Writing Down The Bones. And it’s good to be reminded of “the basics” of freewrites.

    Helpful ideas for writing from Nat:

    1. Keep your hand moving. If you say you will write for ten minutes, twenty, an hour, keep your hand going. Not frantically, clutching the pen. But don’t stop. This is your chance to break through to wild mind, to the way you really think, see, and feel, rather than how you think you should think, see and feel. This does not mean you have to write orgasmic sex scenes smeared with butter to touch wild mind. You might end up writing about toast, your sore throat, your fingernail. But it will be alive, real.

    Yes, even you who have never left home, never stepped out of your gray suit, even you have wild mind . . .

    You might write for ten minutes and never land. That’s okay. If you accept your mind at whatever level it is as you begin to write, if you don’t fight it, it will eventually settle . . .

    1. Feel free to write the worst junk in America. You have to turn over your mind a lot for the gems to pop out . . .
    2. Be specific. Not car but Cadillac. Not horse but palomino. Not fruit but tangerine
    3. Lose control. Say what you want to say, not what you think you should say.

    Note from Marlene: Pick something to write about and Just write!  For ideas on what to write about, click here and here.  You can read what others have written and post your writing on The Write Spot Blog.

  • Natalie Goldberg’s Six Rules of Writing Practice

    Writing Down the BonesNatalie Goldberg’s Six Rules of Writing Practice from her books: Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind

    1. Keep your hand moving.
    2. Don’t cross out.
    3. Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, or grammar.
    4. Lose control.
    5. Don’t think.
    6. Go for the jugular