I read Eve Ensler and thought it was fabulous. Not only that, but it was really the only thing I could relate to about cancer. Natalie Goldberg More Quotes by Natalie Goldberg More Quotes From Natalie Goldberg While I had cancer, I wrote these twenty-two personal essays about how I lived my life backed by Zen and writing. Natalie Goldberg cancer writing two You don't know what you're doing. You're just hoping that people won't make fun of you. I had no idea how it would turn out. Natalie Goldberg fun people ideas The odd thing is, that I wrote The Great Spring while I had cancer and it's not about cancer. It was after I was done with cancer that I wrote a book about it. Natalie Goldberg cancer spring book I love and care about literature, and great writers are our teachers. You're studying their mind when you read their work. Natalie Goldberg literature mind teacher I have students that I tell, "If your book doesn't sell or you can't publish it, write another book. Quit sitting around." The publishing world is a business, but it's not any big deal. An editor is not your guru. Your agent is not your guru. Natalie Goldberg editors writing book I still write with pen and paper and have someone type it on a computer. But rewriting I do by hand. Natalie Goldberg paper writing hands I had cancer for fourteen months and wrote a memoir about the experience. Natalie Goldberg fourteen cancer months Really you don't need more information. If you've lived twenty years, you probably have enough material for the rest of your life Natalie Goldberg twenties years needs I consider writing a legitimate Zen practice. Natalie Goldberg practice writing Shut up and write. Don't talk about writing, just physically do it. Natalie Goldberg shut-up writing Understand that writing is like an athletic activity. To play tennis well, you expect to keep practicing, but for some reason with writing, you think you should come out fresh the first time. Natalie Goldberg play writing thinking You don't need to go to a therapist, you don't need to do all kinds of things. If you want to write, you physically have to do it. Natalie Goldberg want writing needs I told all kinds of stories about going to Japan, about playing ball with my father... I wanted to record my life in case it was going to end soon. So, I wrote that and it was very comforting to have that practice in the afternoons in my living room. I just wrote about my life. Natalie Goldberg japan practice father That daydreaming seemed important at the time, but when I asked my teacher Katagiri Roshi about it, he said, "Oh, it's just laziness. Get to work." But as for discipline, I don't even use that word. I think more about passion or love. What I've really learned is the way the mind moves, and how the mind works. Rather than discipline, I know how to seduce my mind. Natalie Goldberg passion teacher moving 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 practice writing rivers Friends open the door for me to write. Then I get paid attention to and it allows me to write other books. The Great Spring and the thirtieth anniversary of Bones just came out and while I'm happy and excited about that, I've already finished a new book. That's what practice does. You don't get caught. Natalie Goldberg writing spring book I think book publishing is fun, but I also know I've been very lucky. Natalie Goldberg fun book thinking If I didn't have that, fear and projections over what was coming next could have taken over. But it was tough. Don't think I was an angel. It was hell. Natalie Goldberg angel taken thinking So even though I couldn't bear writing about cancer, I faced it every day. Natalie Goldberg cancer bears writing The first thing is how awful cancer was, the experience. When you first go through it, you're just trying to survive. But when I wrote about it, I really digested it. It was unbearable but I had practice behind me. Natalie Goldberg cancer practice trying
