Dave's Book Blog: "Writing Down the Bones" by Natalie Goldberg

Monday, 9 February 2026

"Writing Down the Bones" by Natalie Goldberg

I was immediately attracted to this astonishingly inspirational manual for creative writers by the endorsement on the back from Robert Pirsig, author of one of my top ten novels: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Then I discovered that it had a foreword written by Judith Guest, author of Ordinary People, another of my top classic novels. At once my expectations were sky-high and I was not disappointed.

If there is a single message, it might be summarised as write, write and write some more. Writing, she says, is like running: the more you do the better you get. She advocates free writing, ten minutes of losing control. Write about the ordinary experiences of life. And rewrite, because sometimes we need more than one attempt.

I particularly liked the concept of composting, the process by which our mind makes sense of our experiences: “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 of our minds come nitrogen, heat, and very fertile soil. Out of this fertile soil blooms our poems and stories. ... 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.” (14)

But I think what she is suggesting might work better for poems than for novels, which need rather more preparation and understanding of structure. Nevertheless, this a book full of sage advice, beautifully expressed.

Selected quotes:

“It’s good to go off and write a novel, but don’t stop doing writing practice. It’s what keeps you in tune, like a dancer who does warmups before dancing.” (13)
“Writers write about things that other people don’t pay much attention to. For instance, our tongues, elbows, water coming out of a water faucet, ... A writer’s job is to make the ordinary come alive, to awaken ourselves to the specialness of simply living.” (99)
“Learn to write about the ordinary. ... Make a list of everything ordinary you can think of. Keep adding to it. Make a promise to yourself, before you leave this earth, to mention everything on your list at least once in a poem, short story, newspaper article.” (100)
“The trick is to keep your heart open.” (28)
“Every minute we change ... At any point we can step out of our frozen selves and our ideas and begin afresh. ... There is no permanent truth you can corner in a poem that will satisfy you forever.” (33)
“Step out of the way and record your thoughts as they roll through you.” (35)
“Writing is not a McDonald’s hamburger. The cooking is slow, and in the beginning you are not sure whether a roast or a banquet of a lamb chop will be the result.” (37)
“If you want to get high, don’t drink whiskey; read Shakespeare ... aloud.” (51)
“Stay on the side of precision; know your goal and stay present with it.” (55)
“Writing is not psychology. We don’t talk ‘about’ feelings. Instead the writer feels and through her words awakens feelings in the reader.” (68)
“Writers write about things that other people don't pay much attention to. For instance, our tongues, elbows, water coming out of a water faucet ... A writer's job is to make the ordinary come alive.” (99)
“When you want to write in a certain form ... read a lot of writing in that form.” (124)
“The world is not the way we think it is ... solid and structured and forever.” (128)
“We don’t actually know when we will die.” (128)
“If only one line in a poem has energy, then cut the rest out.” (159)
“Anything we fully do is an alone journey.” (169)
“The world is not the way we think it is ... solid and structured and forever.” (128)