by:
GOLDBERG, NATALIE

Publisher:
Bantam
Published:October 30, 2001
ISBN:0553374966
Format:Paperback
Pages:240

Description: Amazon.com
More musings from Natalie Goldberg on writing as a spiritual path, as "an authentic Zen way." Goldberg has some nice things to say about the importance of the process of writing. She recommends her students spend two years at writing "practice" before undertaking a specific project, so that they can "get in touch with their wild minds." The most inspired writing, she says, comes when one's conscious mind gets out of the way. Still, we are puzzled by Thunder and Lightning: is it really meant to show us how to turn "our flashes of inspiration ... into a polished piece of work," as the book jacket touts? It comes off more as a collection of Goldberg's ruminations on writing and reading. Goldberg tells us about her friend Julie's writing process. Another pal, Kate, talks about plot. We study Styron with Goldberg's workshop students and take a road trip through the South to try to figure out just how some of the poorest states in the union managed to produce so many great writers. There are some good stories here, and it's vaguely interesting to know what Nat likes to order when she does her café writing or lunches with her editors, but we end up desiring a little less wandering and a little more focus. --Jane Steinberg --This text refers to the

Hardcover edition.

Product Description:
In this long-awaited sequel to her bestselling books Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind, Natalie Goldberg, one of the most sought-after writing teachers of our time, takes us to the next step in the writing process.

You've filled your notebooks, done your writing practice, discovered your original voice. Now what? How do you turn this raw material into finished stories, essays, poems, novels, memoirs?

Drawing on her own experience as a writer and a student of Zen, Natalie shows you how to create a field big enough to allow your "wild mind" to wander - and then gently direct its tremendous energy into whatever you want to write.

Here, too, is invaluable advice on how to overcome writer's block, how to deal with the fear of criticism and rejection, how to get the most from working with an editor, and how to learn from reading accomplished authors.

With humor and compassion, Goldberg recounts her own mistakes on the way to publication - and how you can avoid the most common pitfalls of the beginning writer. Through it all there is a deep celebration of writing itself - not just as the means to an end, but as a path to living a deeper, more fully alive life.