Thursday Thirteen 113: Writing Down the Bones

I've mentioned a couple of times that I had recently read Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones. Here are a few words of inspiration from that book, some of which can be applied to life as equally as they can writing.

1. Every moment is different. Different things work. One isn’t wrong and the other right.

2. Explore the rugged edges of thought. Like grating a carrot, give the paper the colorful coleslaw of your consciousness.

3. If every time you sat down, you expected something great, writing would always be a great disappointment.

4. Every minute we change. It is a great opportunity. At any point, we can step out of our frozen selves and our ideas and begin fresh. That is how writing is. Instead of freezing us, it frees us.

5. Writing is not a McDonald’s hamburger. The cooking is slow, and in the beginning you are not sure whether a roast or a banquet or a lamb chop will be the result.

6. We’re always thinking we should be writing no matter what else we might be doing. It’s not fun. The life of an artist isn’t easy. You’re never free unless you are doing your art.

7. We must remember that everything is ordinary and extraordinary. It is our minds that either open or close. Details are not good or bad. They are details.

8. Writing, too, is ninety percent listening. You listen so deeply to the space around you that it fills you, and when you write, it pours out of you. If you can capture that reality around you, your writing needs nothing else.

9. So writing is not just writing. It is also having a relationship with other writers. And don’t be jealous, especially secretly. That’s the worst kind. If someone writes something great, it’s more clarity in the world for all of us. Don’t make writers “other,” different from you: “They are good and I am bad.” Don’t create that dichotomy. It makes it hard to become good if you create that duality. The opposite, of course, is also true: if you say, “I am great and they aren’t,” then you become too proud, unable to grow as a writer or hear criticism of your work. Just: “They are good and I am good.” That statement gives a lot of space.

10. We build on what came before us, even if our writing is a reaction to it or we try to negate the past. We still write with the knowledge of what’s at our backs.

11. I don’t fear being lost. If I am lost, I am lost. That is all. I look on my map and find my way. I even like to wander the streets…not particularly knowing where I am.

12. Take out another notebook, pick up another pen, and just write, just write, just write. In the middle of the world, make one positive step. In the center of chaos, make one definite act. Just write. Say yes, stay alive, be awake. Just write. Just write. Just write.

13. We have an idea that success is a happy occasion. Success can also be lonely, isolating, disappointing. It makes sense that it is everything. Give yourself the space to feel whatever you feel, and don’t feel as though you shouldn’t have a wide range of emotions.



LINKS TO OTHER THURSDAY THIRTEENS:
(Please leave your link if this is your first visit!)

Janice Seagraves * Alexia Reed * Alice Audrey * Cass
Stephanie Adkins * Adelle Laudan * Shelley Munro
AD * Harriet * Paige Tyler * Chris * Inez Kelley
Jamie Babette * Jennifer McKenzie * Colleen
Mary Quast * Storyteller * Ita Jeff

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others’ comments. It’s easy, and fun! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things.