Natalie Goldberg: Down

Natalie Goldberg is American writer. Explore interesting quotes on down.

Natalie Goldberg: 72 quotes1 like

“Use original detail in your writing. Life is so rich, if you can write down the real details of the way things were and are, you hardly need anything else.”

Natalie Goldberg book Writing Down the Bones

Essay, "Original detail". p.45
Writing Down the Bones (1986)

“Stress is basically a disconnection from the earth, a forgetting of the breath. Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency. Nothing is that important. Just lie down.”

Natalie Goldberg

“In a rainstorm, everyone quickly runs down the street with umbrellas, raincoats, newspapers over their heads. Writers go back outside in the rain with a notebook in front of them and a pen in hand. They look at the puddles, watch them fill, watch the rain splash in them.”

Natalie Goldberg book Writing Down the Bones

Essay, "Living twice". p.53
Writing Down the Bones (1986)

“Of course, you can sit down and have something you want to say. But then you must let its expression be born in you and on the paper. Don't hold too tight; allow it to come out how it needs to rather than trying to control it.”

Natalie Goldberg book Writing Down the Bones

Essay, "Writing is not a McDonald's hamburger". p.39
Writing Down the Bones (1986)

“This is the practice school of writing. Like running, the more you do it, the better you get at it. […] You practice whether you want to or not.
Through practice you actually do get better.
Sit down with the least expectation of yourself; say "I am free to write the worst junk in the world."”

Natalie Goldberg book Writing Down the Bones

You have to give yourself the space to write a lot without a destination.
Essay, "Writing as a practice". p.11
Writing Down the Bones (1986)