Writing Life

IrishScribbler · Jul 24, 2007

I am in the midst of reading Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg, and before finishing it, I have a whole new perspective on my writing life. I may not put into practice all she teaches in this book, but it's the idea behind it that has touched me.

Has anyone read this? How has it changed your writing life (for better or worse)?

Sophia · Jul 24, 2007

I love Writing Down the Bones. It's a very positive, uplifting sort of book, and I find I read it a lot when I'm feeling very low about something and it's affecting my writing. I let it just fall open and read whatever chapter it opens to, or skim the contents and read the chapter that catches my attention. When the writing is going okay, I find I don't read it at all. For me, it's a book to help with my attitude and mood rather than the nuts and bolts of writing, although I do think the exercises she suggests are good ones.

IrishScribbler · Jul 24, 2007

ElaraSophia said:
For me, it's a book to help with my attitude and mood rather than the nuts and bolts of writing, although I do think the exercises she suggests are good ones.

Agreed!

ChaosTitan · Jul 24, 2007

It's one of the few writing books I haven't read yet. It's been recommended numerous times in the last few months, so I may have to put it on my wish-list.

Harper K · Jul 24, 2007

I read it back when I was a Fake Writer -- that is, someone who read all the books about writing and did all the fun exercises in them without fully adopting any of the philosophies or good habits they espoused. All I wrote back then was online journal entries. I moaned about being in Atlanta instead of the Iowa Writers Workshop (despite not having applied. Or written any passable short fiction in years). Woe. God, I'm glad I don't have to be 22 ever again.

So, yes, I read it... but I didn't let it inspire me (I think I preferred complaining at that time in my life), and I didn't appreciate it for what it was. I'm going to have to revisit it now that I actually keep to a writing schedule and have realistic writing goals.

A former co-worker of mine attended Natalie Goldberg's writing and meditation workshops in Taos, New Mexico. He went back again and again. And then he left his job here to be a full-time food critic.

scarletpeaches · Jul 24, 2007

I read it a few weeks back and it bored me silly. When I read 'how to write' books I want to know...how to write. There were no suggestions, no 'try this and if that doesn't work try that'. Well, perhaps in a few chapters but it was all a bit zen for my liking. Airy-fairy.

Okay, it dealt with writing, but didn't really touch on writing novels which are a whole different animal to keeping a diary, writing letters, poetry or what have you.

I should have spent my money on a notepad and pen and just got on with writing my book.

Devil Ledbetter · Jul 24, 2007

scarletpeaches said:
I read it a few weeks back and it bored me silly. When I read 'how to write' books I want to know...how to write. There were no suggestions, no 'try this and if that doesn't work try that'. Well, perhaps in a few chapters but it was all a bit zen for my liking. Airy-fairy.

I got only halfway through it, if that. I felt it romanticized a "writing lifestyle" and didn't have much to do with actually improving one's prose or storytelling.

Where she really lost me was when she started going on about writing in cafes and diners.

Bubastes · Jul 24, 2007

I didn't care for it, but then I generally have trouble with airy-fairy writing books :cough:The Artist's Way:cough:. My personal favorite book about creativity is The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp because it acknowledges the mysterious side of creativity while emphasizing the role of old-fashioned, unglamorous hard work.

Azure Skye · Jul 24, 2007

It was the first book I picked up when I started taking writing seriously. It gave me a lot of inspiration to try.

scarletpeaches · Jul 24, 2007

I think writing books should be about head-hopping, POV, first- and third-person narratives, that sort of thing. Not writing in cafes which is impossible for me anyway - I need silence to write. Or letting some higher power flow through you. What rot. It's not God who writes my books, it's me.

maestrowork · Jul 24, 2007

I agree with Scarlet. I dislike the hand-holding, "you can do it" inspirational writing books. They're in the wrong market. They should be in the self-help section. The next thing would be "You can be a pianist" by Raymond K. Wong (who, incidentally, knows nothing about playing the piano). When I read a writing book, I want to read about techniques, best practices, etc. I don't need Dr. Phil to tell me "Yes, you can be a writer, too, if you believe in yourself."

It's cheaper just to load up on caffeine and do it BIC.

rugcat · Jul 24, 2007

I like books about writing because they give me ideas. I don't think a single thing I've ever read in any writing book has directly helped me, but many topics have set me off musing about my own process. I usually end up far afield, and even though the insights I've received may have nothing to do with the author's original advice or examples, it ends up being helpful nonetheless.

swvaughn · Jul 24, 2007

maestrowork said:
I agree with Scarlet. I dislike the hand-holding, "you can do it" inspirational writing books. They're in the wrong market. They should be in the self-help section. The next thing would be "You can be a pianist" by Raymond K. Wong (who, incidentally, knows nothing about playing the piano). When I read a writing book, I want to read about techniques, best practices, etc. I don't need Dr. Phil to tell me "Yes, you can be a writer, too, if you believe in yourself."

It's cheaper just to load up on caffeine and do it BIC.

If that was the whole title of the book, I'd totally buy it.

You Can Be a Pianist, by Raymond K. Wong (Who, Incidentally, Knows Nothing About Playing the Piano)

Slap that on a cover, and I'm there. A caveat, though: I'd expect it to be funny.

JoNightshade · Jul 24, 2007

Eh, I don't read books about writing. I've always been a learn-by-doing person (that was actually the motto of the university I attended... anyone?

) and I take the same approach to writing.

JasonChirevas · Jul 24, 2007

scarletpeaches said:
I think writing books should be about head-hopping, POV, first- and third-person narratives, that sort of thing. Not writing in cafes which is impossible for me anyway - I need silence to write. Or letting some higher power flow through you. What rot. It's not God who writes my books, it's me.

maestrowork said:
I agree with Scarlet. I dislike the hand-holding, "you can do it" inspirational writing books. They're in the wrong market. They should be in the self-help section. The next thing would be "You can be a pianist" by Raymond K. Wong (who, incidentally, knows nothing about playing the piano). When I read a writing book, I want to read about techniques, best practices, etc. I don't need Dr. Phil to tell me "Yes, you can be a writer, too, if you believe in yourself."

It's cheaper just to load up on caffeine and do it BIC.

Jamesaritchie said:
I read it. Quite possibly the book I hate most in the world. I'm not big on New Age anything, which is how this book was first published, I think. Even more, I'm not at all big on taking writing advice from someone who hasn't written what's she's trying to tell me to write.

I find it laughable that one of the best selling how to books of all time was written by someone who had essentially published nothing before she wrote this book.

I love you guys.

-Jason

Jamesaritchie · Jul 24, 2007

Bones

I read it. Quite possibly the book I hate most in the world. I'm not big on New Age anything, which is how this book was first published, I think. Even more, I'm not at all big on taking writing advice from someone who hasn't written what's she's trying to tell me to write.

I find it laughable that one of the best selling how to books of all time was written by someone who had essentially published nothing before she wrote this book.

pdr · Jul 24, 2007

The problem with...

'Writing Down the Bones' is that it encourages beginners to produce masses of purposeless 'verbal vomit' on paper.

Of course a writer needs the raw basics to work on. But 'WDtheB' does not help a baby beginner refine and edit. And I've found these are the two skills which make publishable writing.

Patricia · Jul 24, 2007

Jamesaritchie said:
I find it laughable that one of the best selling how to books of all time was written by someone who had essentially published nothing before she wrote this book.

Smart lady. Who's her publisher?

Mom'sWrite · Jul 24, 2007

Zen isn't New Age. Zen's a lot older than that. But her book, Writing Down the Bones belongs in the same category of other emotionally supportive writing books, like Stephen King's On Writing and Ann Lamott's Bird by Bird. I've read all of them and loved all of them, but understand from the get-go that they are not meant to be How To books. Those are a whole different animal.

ETA: Writing Down the Bones and books like it are there to help a writer understand why they are insane if they don't write and insane when they do.

Saanen · Jul 24, 2007

I used to read a lot of this kind of book, and I remember enjoying Writing Down the Bones some 15 years ago, although even then I thought it was sort of pie-in-the-sky. I don't read many books about writing these days; most of them seem pitched toward beginners, and I really don't need to read another chapter explaining subject-verb agreement and reminding me not to use too many adjectives. I also don't need encouragement to write anymore, but there was a time when I did, so there's nothing wrong with writing books that encourage writers. Just make sure you don't read them instead of writing.

Azure Skye · Jul 24, 2007

Saanen said:
I used to read a lot of this kind of book, and I remember enjoying Writing Down the Bones some 15 years ago, although even then I thought it was sort of pie-in-the-sky. I don't read many books about writing these days; most of them seem pitched toward beginners, and I really don't need to read another chapter explaining subject-verb agreement and reminding me not to use too many adjectives. I also don't need encouragement to write anymore, but there was a time when I did, so there's nothing wrong with writing books that encourage writers. Just make sure you don't read them instead of writing.

Exactly. Someone out there needs that type of book and as I said, it was the first thing I picked up in the beginning when I needed that type of support/encouragement/inspiration. It serves its purpose for some of us, at some time. Once I found the meatier books on writing instruction instead of inspiration then I left that one on my shelf to collect dust. Now, many years later, I see that the best way to learn to write, is to sit down and write.

scarletpeaches · Jul 24, 2007

I completely disagree that Stephen King's On Writing is in the same category as this mental masturbation.

At least he goes into editing and adverbs and tenses. You know - the technicalities, not just arse-gravy.

maestrowork · Jul 24, 2007

swvaughn said:
If that was the whole title of the book, I'd totally buy it.

You Can Be a Pianist, by Raymond K. Wong (Who, Incidentally, Knows Nothing About Playing the Piano)

Slap that on a cover, and I'm there. A caveat, though: I'd expect it to be funny.

You may be on to something. I am so writing that proposal to an editor...

Mom'sWrite · Jul 24, 2007

scarletpeaches said:
I completely disagree that Stephen King's On Writing is in the same category as this mental masturbation.

At least he goes into editing and adverbs and tenses. You know - the technicalities, not just arse-gravy.

On Writing is 90% memoir and 10% how-to with a bunch of odes to BIC in between. If it's technicalities that light your fire, you can't do better than our own James D. MacDonald. His "Learn Writing with Uncle Jim" thread is the upper limit of what can be done in the How to Write genre. It's especially useful because of the lively debates on the mechanics of writing. Books of the How-to variety all lack that dimension. Long live Uncle Jim.

pconsidine · Jul 24, 2007

Back when my mother was still trying to convince me that I was a writer and not a painter, she bought me Writing Down the Bones. I really enjoyed it at the time, and continue to enjoy it when I pick it back up again. I don't need nuts and bolts. I know how to write and I know that I'm damn good at it. It's only ever been a matter of being in the right frame of mind to write, which this book helps with handily.

Writing Life

Around

here's to the girl on the go

Come on you stranger, you legend,

bananaed

Huh?

Fear the Death Ray

Lost in the Fog

adrift

has finally arrived

California Dreaming

Service with a smile

Huh?

Fear the Death Ray

Service with a smile

Too Adorkable for Words