The all-time best-selling writer's handbook turns thirty.
With insight, humor, and practicality, Natalie Goldberg inspires writers and would-be writers to take the leap into writing skillfully and creatively. She offers suggestions, encouragement, and solid advice on many aspects of the writer's craft: on writing from "first thoughts" (keep your hand moving, don't cross out, just get it on paper), on listening (writing is ninety percent listening; the deeper you listen, the better you write), on using verbs (verbs provide the energy of the sentence), on overcoming doubts (doubt is torture; don't listen to it)—even on choosing a restaurant in which to write. Goldberg sees writing as a practice that helps writers comprehend the value of their lives. The advice in her book, provided in short, easy-to-read chapters with titles that reflect the author's witty approach ("Writing Is Not a McDonald's Hamburger," "Man Eats Car," "Be an Animal"), will inspire anyone who writes—or who longs to.
I'm not sure how to rate Writing Down the Bones. On one hand there are interesting ideas and insights in Goldberg's combination of Zen Buddhism and the act of writing, but at the same time her methods only really lend themselves for memoir or poetry writing. The chapters were too introspective and disjointed for me, and I felt very impatient with the constant description of random images. If Goldberg inspires you - great! It didn't resonate with me, however.
