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Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within Paperback – February 2, 2016
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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.
- Print length224 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherShambhala
- Publication dateFebruary 2, 2016
- Dimensions5.48 x 0.66 x 8.47 inches
- ISBN-10161180308X
- ISBN-13978-1611803082
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"The secret of creativity, Natalie Goldberg makes clear, is to subtract rules for writing, not add them. It's a process of 'uneducation' rather than education. Proof that she knows what she's talking about is abundant in her own sentences. They flow with speed and grace and accuracy and simplicity. It looks easy to a reader, but writers know it is the hardest writing of all."—Robert Pirsig, author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
"Julia, come on in! It’s great!" Natalie Goldberg’s voice carried over the roar of the Rio Grande river. She had invited me to go swimming, assuring me that our jumping-off point would be safe and placid. It was nothing like safe and placid. The river’s current was strong, and it took a strong swimmer—like Natalie—to brave its depths.
"Come on in," she called again, "You’ll love it." And so, egged on by her enthusiasm, I stepped into the current. It was both strong and swift. Losing my footing, I found myself sputtering. Natalie laughed. "Don’t you love it?" she called. "Just relax." True to her word, Natalie herself rode the current. "You’re doing fine," she assured me, as I mentally wrote my obituary, "Writer takes the plunge and drowns."
Asked to write a foreword to this, the thirtieth anniversary edition of Writing Down the Bones, I found myself remembering that afternoon on the Rio, and the way that Natalie’s bold enthusiasm lured me from the shore. “Why, it’s just like her teachings,” I realized. A million-plus readers have followed Natalie’s bold plunge into the world of words. "Just dive in," urges Natalie, teaching, "Begin where you are." Inspired by her conviction that all of us have lively stories to tell, Natalie’s students put pen to the page, following her enticing leads. Writing Down the Bones is a book of short essays. True to her word, she begins at the beginning: "Beginner’s mind, pen and paper." From there, it’s time to push off from the shore. "Keep your hand moving," she commands. "Don’t cross out, don’t worry about spelling, punctuation and grammar; lose control, don’t think, don’t get logical, go for the jugular."
In other words, take the plunge.
"Do you want a tomato?" It’s another afternoon with Natalie, twenty years later. This time, we are standing at her kitchen counter, and she is urging me to just take one succulent bite. The tomato is home-grown, plucked by Natalie’s own hand. And though I’m not used to eating a tomato like a peach, Natalie models the daring it takes to consider the tomato an end in itself, and not a mere ingredient.
"Why, it’s just like her teaching," I caught myself thinking. It’s a matter of appetite. It’s a matter of satisfaction. Natalie’s writing is filled with savory details. The tomato she plucked from her garden can yield an entire essay.
"Include original detail," Natalie urges her students. Our lives are filled with details, like the ripe red tomato plucked from the vine. Natalie’s writing is filled with food, and her appetite for life gives us food for thought.
—Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way
July 2015
Product details
- Publisher : Shambhala; Anniversary edition (February 2, 2016)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 224 pages
- ISBN-10 : 161180308X
- ISBN-13 : 978-1611803082
- Item Weight : 10.2 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.48 x 0.66 x 8.47 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #7,798 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #5 in Authorship Reference
- #19 in Fiction Writing Reference (Books)
- #41 in Creativity (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Natalie Goldberg lived in Brooklyn until she was six, when her family moved out to Farmingdale, Long Island, where her father owned the bar the Aero Tavern. From a young age, Goldberg was mad for books and reading, and especially loved Carson McCullers’s The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, which she read in ninth grade. She thinks that single book led her eventually to put pen to paper when she was twenty-four years old. She received a BA in English literature from George Washington University and an MA in humanities from St. John’s University.
Goldberg has painted for as long as she has written, and her paintings can be seen in Living Color: A Writer Paints Her World and Top of My Lungs: Poems and Paintings. They can also be viewed at the Ernesto Mayans Gallery on Canyon Road in Sante Fe.
A dedicated teacher, Goldberg has taught writing and literature for the last thirty-five years. She also leads national workshops and retreats, and her schedule can be accessed via her website: nataliegoldberg.com
In 2006, she completed with the filmmaker Mary Feidt a one-hour documentary, Tangled Up in Bob, about Bob Dylan’s childhood on the Iron Range in Northern Minnesota. The film can be obtained on Amazon or the website tangledupinbob.com.
Goldberg has been a serious Zen practitioner since 1974 and studied with Katagiri Roshi from 1978 to 1984.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2019
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I recently listened to the audio version of the 30th anniversary edition. I read this for the first time years ago, and I’m pleasantly surprised at how much it all came back to me. I love that the author herself is the one reading the audiobook. She will pause occasionally to offer commentary on her own writing, which is both helpful and entertaining.
At some point in the past I owned a copy of this book in paperback. I donated it during a bookshelf clean out long ago; I don’t even remember what house I last had it in. I have no idea why at the time I thought I didn’t want it anymore. Now it has earned the distinction of being the only book I have ever parted with and then end up repurchasing years later.
The book is divided into many small sections that stand on their own, rather than grouped into traditional chapters or sections. You could flip to any of the more than five dozen individual pieces and read whatever you land on; the order is not critical. Most of these self-contained parts only run between two to five pages.
Following are some of my favorite takeaways from my most recent read of Writing Down the Bones:
Writing requires practice, a lot of practice.
You can’t just say I’m going to write a novel, or a poem, or an essay. You have to put in the practice work. It is similar to the way you couldn’t simply decide: I’m going to go run a marathon. The training you do prior to that event is critical. There’s a reason journaling sessions and writing prompts are frequently referred to as writing exercises. The only way to improve your writing muscle is to use it.
Be willing to write until something beautiful emerges.
Sometimes we have to put down some really, really bad stuff before we get to the really, really good stuff. You might write for many, many pages and simply think none of it makes sense and it’s all complete trash. But then you hit up on something and realize what is emerging is what you were looking for all the time. In the book she compares it to composting; sometimes you need to sift through a lot of what looks like garbage to get to the beautiful flower.
Pay attention to detail, but don’t marry the fly.
Specifics can be very important {as mentioned next} but don’t become so distracted by them that you drift too far from your main point. You don’t want the reader to become disillusioned with where the story is heading. Be precise, but don’t let your love of description cause your mind to wander. Stay on target so you don’t lose the reader.
Be as specific as you need to be.
If an exact word can be used, you should use it. If this means you need to put in the effort to learn the specific names of things, then by all means do it. In the book she uses the example of learning the names of trees and flowers in a specific area and how details such as these make you feel more connected to your writing.
Drop qualifiers from your statements.
Ooh. This is such a hard one for me personally. Don’t undermine your own writing by including a lot of wishy-washy terms, such as I think, maybe, I’m not sure but, etc. if you have something to say, say it. If you need to question something, question it.
It’s not enough to just show up and follow the rules.
The author refers to this as “the goody two-shoes nature.” While goals to write every day or to fill up a certain number of pages can be useful in getting you started, ultimately you need to put your heart into your writing. Knowing when to take chances and knowing when you need to step back and rest are both equally important.
Developing a strong connection to your writing is worth the effort.
Gaining confidence in your own writing can be challenging. Trusting in the process and trusting in yourself both take time. Have patience. This is truly a lovely book and definitely worth a read {or listen}. The 30th edition also includes an interview with the author.
One additional point I feel I should mention: The author makes multiple references to Buddhist philosophy and Zen practice. I did not find that this distracted from the overall message of the book, but it is a rather obvious recurring theme. I’m not usually crazy about writers who try to tie in spiritually to the writing process, but it seemed to work here.
It didn't take long to lose the resistance at all. Writing Down the Bones is a gem of a listen, it's like the oddest little ear candy ever. Her steady metronome style of speaking is filled with rules of engagement, with kindness, and with some arguments to counter your own self when you meet your true resistance. This was written well before the marketing / writing / promoting self-help boom came along, and thank goodness. Natalie Goldberg's book is entirely without jargon and tactics, god how I hate that word now, and yet it is a complete guide to "writing your asses off." I lived in Boulder and went to Naropa and everyone and their dog was all agog over Writing Down the Bones. It reminded me of being in junior high when all of the girls in my grade were going crazy over Flowers In the Attic, which did nothing for me. As a result, ok years later as an adult, I found fault with the title - I hated it actually. And then refused to read it. My own loss.
Thankfully, years and years later I was making another long commute in the car, and had run out of things to listen to. Radio reception in the mountains, late at night, meant being hostage to the 3 stations that had no static: orchestral music and Jesus channels. No thank you. I grabbed Writing Down the Bones cassette pack (remember those?) from the library in haste... OK already, I yelled at myself. And popped in the tape and began my drive. It was a delightful late night drive that left me energized, alert, optimistic. She sprinkles in bits about her Buddhist practice which informed her writing of the book, without relying on too much woo, for those of you who think Buddhism is for the birds. It reminded me of my own really haphazard practice of Maitri, which means loving kindness. If you listen to Writing Down the Bones, you are engaging in an act of loving kindness to yourself. And if you allow yourself to take that extra step of actually writing, you're deepening that experience. Or, that's how I take it. You might actually also have a story to show for it. I've gone through the cassettes numerous times. And this is actually my 2nd purchase of the mp3 file since I couldn't recall the account and password I'd used for the first purchase. It's worth it to me to have Natalie Goldberg handy in my back pocket. You might think so, too.
Top reviews from other countries


In terms of writing books, Natalie Goldberg and Brande talked of about in the same breadth. So while buying Brande, I procured a copy of Goldberg as well and found practical ideas that got me to open my notebook and start scribbling.
It is said that nothing will teach you writing better than getting down to writing. But I have found, that dipping into this book now and again, has given me insight and many answers to queries about writing per se.
Gist:
Goldberg analyses the craft and the whole mindset of writing - how to write and what to write. In short succinct chapters, Goldberg de constructs the myth of writing and talks us through the process with her no nonsense approach.
What works:
If you are a writer who has dabbled in creative writing and worked towards constructing a story, then this book is great. It is great, inspirational and the book really talks to you.
It also addresses various issues like where to write and when to write.
It allows you to forget the world, inhibitions and get your thoughts on paper. It makes you take yourself seriously as a writer even if what you are writing at the moment is rubbish!
I like to consult it when I am in the middle of writing a piece and find it boosts my morale and gives me direction in terms of writing.
It was a book written in the 70s but it holds true even today. It is this element that makes this book timeless to me - a classic.
What doesn't:
If you are thinking of becoming a writer and are looking for inspiration, then it is nothing but a good read.
But if you want to make it work for you, get down to writing and this book will help you get there!


