Writing Down the Bones
Natalie Goldberg
Shambhala
Nonfiction, Writing
***+
Description
How do writers write? By writing, of course, but anyone who's tried knows there's a bit more to it than that... mostly overcoming the inner, illogical voice that insists you can't write because you're not a writer. The author offers advice for facing down this obstacle and others that stand between you and the stories you want to, or need to, write.
Review
This isn't a how-to book on getting work published, but more about writing for writing's sake, regardless of market value or demographics. Much of her advice seems geared toward poetry or short slice-of-life tales, more in the literary vein than the sorts of stories I gravitate to, but the basics can be applied to most any genre. It's about breaking down self-imposed barriers and developing both the freedom and the discipline to keep putting down words. I clipped it because, at some point, her chapters and advice started running together into an eye-glazingly repetitious blur. I can't say exactly why or when this happened, but somewhere past the halfway point I realized it was taking more effort to hit every sentence on a given page. Perhaps a bit more on the practical aspects of writing and publishing could've broken it up a little. In any event, this book is recommended in almost every other how-to-write book I've ever read, and now that I've read it I, too, can say that most would-be (or already-are) writers could stand to learn a thing or two about Goldberg's methods, even if it's not the be-all, end-all writing guide.