Pamela McCarty

OWP

Book Report #3

Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg

This is a Zen approach to writing. Goldberg advocates using "beginner's mind" and lots of discipline in order to pull forth the stories that we all have locked within. The book is a series of short pieces, each entirely different. For this reason, the book should be read slowly, one "chapter" at a time.

Goldberg explains, quite accurately, that writing is "not a linear process" that there is no logical way to become an accomplished writer. She writes that there are "many truths" about writing. For this reason, some sections of the book tell the writer to be "very precise", others will advise the writer to "lose control, to write on waves of emotion." In one chapter Goldberg describes how important it is to have a private place to write, in other chapters she relates how she goes to very public places, like cafes or restaurants, to write for hours. What is ultimately important, she maintains, is to write, to write everyday, to fill notebooks and to work at it every day!

Goldberg addresses the subject of procrastination as something that all writers know and must overcome. She is very honest about how she overcomes the urge to delay, not to write what she knows she must. We all know that feeling, the one that prompts us to do everything BUT write the paper that is due or meet the deadline we set for ourselves. Our students know this feeling all too well. Goldberg, in her honesty, helps the procrastinator by offering suggestions and describing how she forces herself to put pen to paper.

She also writes about a writer's vulnerability and lack of faith when it comes to receiving feedback from others, especially from writing groups. It is very difficult for the writer to believe in the merits of what they have written, as many who write are already aware?the piece is never finished, never ready to be scrutinized and certainly never good. She writes that we "have trouble connecting with our own confident writing voice that is inside all of us, and even when we do connect and write well, we don't claim it." (154) Goldberg asks that one be ready to receive the compliments and praise that is due?however, I believe that it is difficult to do so when one knows the true nature of most writing groups. We all know how hard it is to tell the truth if the truth is that the writing is bad. Goldberg says at one point that there is simply nothing to say if the writing is poor. In spite of this, when students or adults first start to use writing groups the compulsion is to preserve the ego, to "be kind" as Goldberg herself maintains, and to find something nice to say. How can an adult or student take such feedback seriously? Especially when the teacher instructs them to start with something "positive"? This, then, is the dilemma. While it is exhilarating to share the creative product, it is also difficult to regard the group as more than social. Goldberg describes and prescribes for this particular dilemma quite eloquently.

This is a great text for those who are serious about writing or just serious about teaching writing.