Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg

For more than twenty years Natalie Goldberg has been challenging and cheering on writers with her books and workshops. In her groundbreaking first book, she brings together Zen meditation and writing in a new way. Writing practice, as she calls it, is no different from other forms of Zen practice —"it is backed by two thousand years of studying the mind."

I felt this was a bit slow, but I'm glad I kept with it. The second half is much better, or at least it spoke to me more. I probably would have liked it more, and given it a higher rating, if I hadn't just read Bird By Bird right before this.

If you're interesting in writing, it's a definite “should read”.

Encore un livre sur l'écriture qui ne m'a pas totalement convaincu, mais j'aurais pu m'y attendre dans ce cas précis. Je savais que l'approche très spirituelle et “zen” de son autrice n'est pas forcément la mienne. Il y a tout de même quelques éléments intéressants dans les nombreux et courts chapitres de ce livre, mais ils sont souvent perdus au milieu d'anecdotes personnelles et de digressions plus ou moins intéressantes.

Dnf 56% very new age self help

I had to laugh when I typed the title of this book into Goodreads to write my review, only to discover my previous review from 2008 - a measly two stars! I distinctly remember reading this at twenty eight, enchanted by Goldberg's fusion of Zen Buddhism and writing reference but frustrated that it wasn't the clearly laid out roadmap to writing success that I had been looking for; annoyed at the earnestness of it, and scoffing at Goldberg's suggestion that learning to be a good writer is not a linear process. Oh how things change. Straight into my top five for the year.

The 30th anniversary edition is wonderful, with additional content from Goldberg after each chapter discussing her thoughts at the time of writing the original manuscript and how her practice has or hasn't changed in the years since. And of course, the core message of the book remains the same: we learn writing by doing it. That simple. So write.