Wild Mind Kathleen Rockwell

Living the Writer's Life Report #3

By Natalie Goldberg

Natalie is a strong contender of 'trusting your own mind'. Words come out of the mind and they are the raw material for writing. She gives a few suggestions or rather rules for writing. Among them are:

1. Keep the creative hand moving so that editing hand can't stop it.
2. Lose control. Say what comes into your mind; say what you want to say.
3. Be specific

She is adamant about letting the story move through your hand rather than your head She encourages us to find "a quiet place in us that is connected to our breath, our words and our death," as that is where the best writing comes from. It is not so much one's giftedness that makes a good writer but rather the way one holds an experience in one's heart. She suggests starting with a sentence and then building as if you were laying bricks. Natalie believes that if you want to write, you have to be willing to be disturbed and that it is important to read aloud what you have written. She refers to the aspect of our mind that always tries to undermine what we write as 'monkey mind' I enjoyed her point of view.