Keep your hand moving
One of Natalie Goldberg’s writing strategies is simply to keep your hand moving, don’t let your internal editor silence your story before it has a chance to emerge. I was reminded of this when I stumbled across a wonderful site recently, red Ravine, where writers QuoinMonkey and ybonesy share their practice, an exploration informed by the work of Natalie Goldberg. They have a thoughtful and inspiring forum.
When I visited red Ravine recently, I mentioned on the posting in honor of Goldberg’s upcoming book that my first writing books were Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind. I believe that a lot of what I know about writing, I first learned from those books.
Some of my most treasured books are about writing. Here are ten of my favorites; they are linked to Powells synopses if you are interested in reading a little bit about them.
- Writing down the Bones - Natalie Goldberg
- Wild Mind - Natalie Goldberg
- Letters to a Young Poet - Rainer Maria Rilke
- Writing without Teachers - Peter Elbow
- Writing a Woman’s Life - Carolyn G. Heilbrun
- The Art of Fiction - John Gardner
- The Writing Life - Annie Dillard
- On Writing - Stephen King
- Bird by Bird - Anne Lamott
- Reading Like a Writer - Francine Prose
What are your favorite books about writing?
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I own two of these books, Writing Down the Bones and Bird by Bird.
I need to sit down and read them again slowly and actually try some of the suggestions in them. When I purchased them I skimmed through them quickly in one sitting with the intention of getting back. I’ve never gotten back.
I’m really liking the book, Writer Mama. It’s not like the other two. It’s more practical how-to. How to find your market, how to write specific types of articles, etc. For some reason my left brain tendencies prefer the nuts and bolts to the heart and soul. I wonder what that means to me as I try to begin writing.
Bird by Bird suggests I begin writing about my childhood. I really don’t want to go there and I doubt if any of family would appreciate it either so I don’t really know where to go with that book.
It’s been so long since I skimmed Writing Down the Bones that I can’t remember anything.
Thanks for reminding me that I have these books and suggesting a few I should check out.
Hi Andrea,
I’d never heard of Writer Mama; I’m glad you mentioned it. You might like Hip Writer Mama’s blog. She has a lot of great links. Her postings are straightforward and useful.
I understand your feelings about writing about your childhood. I think I just take what I can use from these books and forge on.
I think I will revisit Goldberg, too, now. It is one of those times where I need to remember what I know.
Great list! Along with Natalie’s books, these are 3 of my all-time favorites:
The Writing Life - Annie Dillard
On Writing - Stephen King
Bird by Bird - Anne Lamott
I go back and visit them often. Going back to books like these from authors who are out there producing is very helpful for me in terms of keeping my writing practice alive. Now I want to read these 3 again!
I’ve only read the Goldberg books, but I’d love to read a few of the others. Esp Dillard. I like the title of Peter Elbow’s book — that’s intriguing.
Natalie did a book called Thunder and Lightning, which I liked a lot. The subtitle is something about breaking open the writer’s craft. All of her books are so helpful in terms of connecting with the writer inside. Thunder and Lightning starts to delve into structure, although in her workshops Natalie has said she’s not interested in teaching the technical aspects such as editing or putting together a book or essay.
I find those more technical types of books to be less what I need in a book although, perhaps, more of what I need as a writer. I don’t know if that makes sense. When I read a book, I like being reminded of slowing down, being present, the artist way of seeing the world. I like Clark Strand’s book Seeds of a Birch Tree for that reason. It’s about his approach to writing haiku, but it’s really about his relationship to nature and how he is in the world.
Well, a thought-provoking topic. Thanks.
Thanks for the inspiration, QuoinMonkey!
I think it will be revitalizing to revisit Goldberg.
Ybonesy,
I’m glad you mentioned Thunder and Lightning, I’m not familiar with that one or Clark Strand’s book. Thanks, I will check those out. I feel closest to Anne Lamott’s style of being in the world, Traveling Mercies is one of my favorites. I wonder if there are any books by women authors who are a cross between Goldberg and Lamott, out there….
I’m not a fan of technical writing generally but the kind of writing I found in the books I listed was engaging to me.
King’s “On Writing”, Lamott’s “Bird by Bird”, and Ray Bradbury’s “Zen and the Art of Writing.” Good good stuff. Stuff to start you, stuff to excite you, stuff to remind you who you are. :)
Hi LFC!
They really do help get the writer in motion.
I haven’t read Bradbury’s “Zen and the Art of Writing.” Thanks! I will check that one out, too.
I just found a blog posting you might be interested in.
Early Influences: Any Natalie Goldberg Fans Out There?
I happen to be reading Stephen King’s “On Writing” now. (I’ve had it for some time, but there’s always a pile of library books I need to finish.) It’s good, though so far I’ve found his life story more interesting than much of the advice about writing–I’ve heard the “no passive voice” and “get rid of the adverbs” kind of stuff too many times already.
I haven’t read any of the others.
Thanks, Andrea. How funny!
There must be something in the air?
Hi, Third Culture Mom.
I remember On Writing as my source for the adverb caution. That is oddly specific for my fuzzy memory…but there it is. I also remember enjoying his voice in that book.
[...] the book doesn’t it? Just think, this is only part of the first few pages. I was reminded by The Other Ivy’s post to check my [...]
I think I must be one of the few writers in the world who has never read a book about writing, and never wanted to read a book about writing. I kind of don’t understand the point. It seems to me, perhaps incorrectly, that reading good work closely and mindfully is the best way to learn how to write. But then,I learned to write from the great Victorians, whom so few people read anymore.
Mindful reading is an important means of learning the craft, I agree. I eventually earned a degree in English that included some Victorian literature but I still did more reading, even in that area, outside of school. I lived in Thackeray’s Vanity Fair for one long day after procrastinating until the last weekend before a test. I read Oscar Wilde, the Brontës and Dickens in high school when I was ducking out of boring classes. By the time I got to college, I’d usually already read most of the required texts for classes.
It’s important to see Victorian literature as a reflection of its time, too. The language, the use of passive voice, the interplay of characters are not just literary conventions but craft that emerged out of a particular period for a specific audience.
It is possible to profit from the benefit of other writers’ experience and education in reading books about writing. Like the three blind men and the elephant, the more we share our portions of the truth, the greater our understanding of the greater picture beyond the limitations of our own perspectives.
I know what you’re saying, but … it seems to me that many of the great Titans of writing didn’t have instruction, and that we are falling more and more into imitative art. So many folks from MFA programs all sound alike; there’s a lot of conformity in literature these days. Perhaps it’s just that the pace and difficulties of our current culture do not foster self-teaching as artists.
Being part of the community of writers doesn’t necessarily mean being part of the academic community of writers.
I agree that the rise in the perceived need for MFA programs and the degrees that they grant creates the danger of producing more homogenized groups of writers. There are also more and more PhD programs emerging to extend the once “terminal” MFA degrees designed, I believe, to keep the academic machine churning (and earning). Terminal. I love the irony of that label. I have been in these workshops, the land of the infamous “workshop poem.” Homogeneity is a danger.
I wonder if it is the pace of our culture or the expectations. Wallace Stevens comes to mind. Insurance salesman by day, poet by night…and what a poet! Virginia Woolf was able to afford a room of her own but not all writers were people of means.
I enjoyed On Writing, and I doubt I’ll ever find anything else as helpful as Bird by Bird, but there are a couple more that struck a chord with me: Lawrence Block’s Spider, Spin Me a Web, and Elizabeth Berg’s Escaping Into the Open (although compared to her novels it was a bit disappointing). When I’m stuck, I often open Bird by Bird to a random page and just read from there for a while. It often acts as a kind of mental Drano.
Excellent…those books are new to me. I’ll take a look at them.
Opening to a random page is a good strategy…I’ve been feeling a little stuck lately. I will give that a try.
Thanks, Tigereye.