Natalie Goldberg Quotes About Writing

Quotes about: Writing

• Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Fear, Writing, Splits

  Natalie Goldberg (2011). “Wild Mind: Living the Writer’s Life”, p.66, Open Road Media

• It's okay to embark on writing because you think it will get you love. At least it gets you going, but it doesn't last. After a while you realize that no one cares that much. Then you find another reason: money. You can dream on that one while the bills pile up. Then you think: "Well, I'm the sensitive type. I have to express myself." Do me a favor. Don't be so sensitive. Be tough. It will get you further along when you get rejected. Finally, you just do it because you happen to like it.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Dream, Writing, Thinking

  FaceBook post by Natalie Goldberg from Feb 14, 2012

• That's very nice if they want to publish you, but don't pay too much attention to it. It will toss you away. Just continue to write.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Nice, Writing, Attention

  Natalie Goldberg (2016). “Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within”, p.214, Shambhala Publications

• If you read good books, when you write, good books will come out of you.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Book, Writing, Ifs

  Natalie Goldberg (2016). “Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within”, p.67, Shambhala Publications

• I write because I am alone and move through the world alone. No one will know what has passed through me... I write because there are stories that people have forgotten to tell, because I am a woman trying to stand up in my life... I write out of hurt and how to make hurt okay; how to make myself strong and come home, and it may be the only real home I'll ever have.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Strong, Hurt, Real

• Writers end up writing about their obsessions. Things that haunt them; things they can’t forget; stories they carry in their bodies waiting to be released.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Writing, Waiting, Stories

  Natalie Goldberg (2016). “Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within”, p.49, Shambhala Publications

• The muscles of writing are not so visible, but they are just as powerful: determination, attention, curiosity, a passionate heart.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Determination, Powerful, Heart

  Natalie Goldberg (2009). “Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir”, p.1, Simon and Schuster

• Wait until you are hungry to say something, until there is an aching in you to speak.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Writing, Waiting, Speak

  Natalie Goldberg (2016). “Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within”, p.168, Shambhala Publications

• I often wonder if all the writers who are alcoholics drink a lot because they aren't writing. It is not because they are writers that they are drinking, but because they are writers who are not writing.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Drinking, Writing, Wonder

• What writing practice, like Zen practice does is bring you back to the natural state of mind...The mind is raw, full of energy, alive and hungry. It does not think in the way we were brought up to think-well-mann ered, congenial.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Writing, Thinking, Practice

  FaceBook post by Natalie Goldberg from Aug 05, 2011

• Tulips come up in spring for no reason. Of course, you planted bulbs and now in April the earth warms up. But why? For no reason except gravity. Why gravity? For no reason. And why did you plant red tulip bulbs to begin with? For beauty, which is itself and has no reason. So the world is empty. Things rise and fall for no reason. And what a great opportunity that is! You can start writing again at any minute. Let go of all your failures and sit down and write something great. Or write something terrible and feel great about it.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Letting Go, Spring, Fall

• 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 definitive act. Just write. Say yes, stay alive, be awake. Just write. Just write. Just write.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Notebook, Writing, Alive

  Natalie Goldberg (2016). “Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within”, p.131, Shambhala Publications

• When I wrote and got out of the way, writing did writing.” (p.90)

  Natalie Goldberg

  Writing, Way

• There's an old adage in writing: 'Don't tell, but show.' Writing is not psychology. We do not talk 'about' feelings. Instead the writer feels and through her words awakens those feelings in the reader. The writer takes the reader's hand and guides him through the valley of sorrow and joy without ever having to mention those words.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Writing, Hands, Joy

  Natalie Goldberg (1998). “Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within”, Shambhala Publications

• My goal is to write every day. I say it is my ideal. I am careful not to pass judgment or create anxiety if I do not do it. No one lives up to his ideal.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Writing, Goal, Anxiety

• Writing practice brings us back to the uniqueness of our own minds and an acceptance of it. We all have wild dreams, fantasies, and ordinary thoughts. Let us to feel the texture of them and not be afraid of them.Writing is still the wildest thing I know.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Dream, Writing, Acceptance

  Natalie Goldberg (2011). “Wild Mind: Living the Writer’s Life”, p.165, Open Road Media

• The things that make you a functional citizen in society - manners, discretion, cordiality - don't necessarily make you a good writer. Writing needs raw truth, wants your suffering and darkness on the table, revels in a cutting mind that takes no prisoners.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Writing, Cutting, Darkness

  Natalie Goldberg (2008). “Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir”, p.113, Simon and Schuster

• Whether you're keeping a journal or writing as a meditation, it's the same thing. What's important is you're having a relationship with your mind.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Writing, Meditation, Mind

  "Author Natalie Goldberg on the Zen of Living, Writing and Eating". Interview with Jean Fain, www.huffingtonpost.com. March 4, 2013.

• Play around. Dive into absurdity and write. Take chances. You will succeed if you are fearless of failure.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Writing, Play, Fearless

  Natalie Goldberg (2016). “Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within”, p.86, Shambhala Publications

• I don't think everyone wants to create the great American novel, but we all have a dream of telling our stories-of realizing what we think, feel, and see before we die. Writing is a path to meet ourselves and become intimate.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Dream, Writing, Thinking

  Natalie Goldberg (2016). “Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within”, p.12, Shambhala Publications

• We have to accept ourselves in order to write. Now none of us does that fully: few of us do it even halfway. Don’t wait for one hundred percent acceptance of yourself before you write, or even eight percent acceptance. Just write. The process of writing is an activity that teaches us about acceptance.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Writing, Acceptance, Eight

  Natalie Goldberg (2011). “Wild Mind: Living the Writer’s Life”, p.50, Open Road Media

• Writing is the act of discovery.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Writing, Discovery

  Natalie Goldberg (2016). “Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within”, p.126, Shambhala Publications

• Finally, one just has to shut up, sit down, and write.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Writing, Down And, Shut Up

  Natalie Goldberg (2016). “Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within”, p.30, Shambhala Publications

• It is odd that we never question the feasibility of a football team practicing long hours for one game; yet in writing we rarely give ourselves the space for practice.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Football, Team, Writing

  Natalie Goldberg (2016). “Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within”, p.14, Shambhala Publications

• One poem or story doesn't matter one way or the other. It's the process of writing and life that matters.

  Natalie Goldberg

  Inspirational, Writing, Stories

  Natalie Goldberg (2016). “Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within”, p.16, Shambhala Publications

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