I don't know anything but writing practice, and so what I really do is direct that energy as if it were flowing down a river. Natalie Goldberg More Quotes by Natalie Goldberg More Quotes From Natalie Goldberg If you're having difficulty coming up with new ideas, then slow down. For me, slowing down has been a tremendous source of creativity. It has allowed me to open up -- to know that there's life under the earth and that I have to let it come through me in a new way. Creativity exists in the present moment. You can't find it anywhere else. Natalie Goldberg creativity ideas art The deepest secret in our heart of hearts is that we are writing because we love the world. Natalie Goldberg secret heart writing To encounter a fine book and have time to read it is a wonderful thing. Natalie Goldberg encounters wonderful book 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 meditation mind writing It is simply that person's time. Ours will come in this lifetime or the next. No matter. Continue to practice. Natalie Goldberg next practice matter I remember a friend many years ago who had taped a sign to his refrigerator: There's a dream dreaming us. If you try to think about what that means it makes your mind silly, but that silliness is good. Natalie Goldberg dream silly mean Our job as writers is to listen, to come home to the four corners of the earth. Natalie Goldberg earth home jobs If you feel bored or uncomfortable as you're writing, ask yourself what's bothering you and write about that. Sometimes your creative energy is like water in a kinked hose, and before thoughts can flow on the topic at hand, you have to straighten the hose by attending to whatever is preoccupying you. Natalie Goldberg bothering-you writing hands I wonder if I don't give too much of myself to writing: I am always half where I am; the other half is feeding the furnace, kick-starting the heat of creativity. I am making love with someone but at the same time I'm noticing how this graceful hand across my belly might just fit in with the memory of lilacs in Albuquerque in 1974. Natalie Goldberg creativity writing memories Learning to write is not a linear process. There is no logical A-to-B-to-C way to become a good writer. One neat truth about writing cannot answer it all. There are many truths. To do writing practice means to deal ultimately with your whole life. Natalie Goldberg practice writing mean Let's say I've directed that [writing] energy into writing my latest book but suddenly, I really want to write about an onion. I don't say to myself, "No, you have stay on the subject," because I know that the longer I stay on the subject the more boring I get. So, if my mind wants to write about an onion, it might be a deeper way to go into what I'm working on, even though it might seem irrelevant. This is how I've learned to follow my mind. Natalie Goldberg mind writing book Anything we fully do is an alone journey. Natalie Goldberg journey travel Oh, my passion! That is what finally carried me through. Let passion burn all the way, heating up every layer of the psyche. Natalie Goldberg layers passion way Our bodies are garbage heaps: we collect experience, and from the decomposition of the thrown-out eggshells, spinach leaves, coffee grinds, and old steak bones out of our minds come nitrogen, heat, and very fertile soil. Out of this fertile soil bloom our poems and stories. But this does not come all at once. It takes time. Continue to turn over and over the organic details of your life until some of them fall through the garbage of discursive thoughts to the solid ground of black soil. Natalie Goldberg black coffee fall 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 The correctness and quality of what you write do not matter; the act of writing does. Natalie Goldberg quality doe writing Women need space and silence. We too quickly give away our energy. There's something about holding that richness. Natalie Goldberg space silence giving Watch yourself. 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. Natalie Goldberg change opportunity ideas You'll lose your reader if you are vague, not clear, and not present. We love details, personal connections, stories. Natalie Goldberg details connections stories To stay close and intimate with experience is to stay close to the mind; the nitty gritty mind of the way things really are. Natalie Goldberg intimate mind way
