Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within

Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within

1986

Ratings40

Average rating3.9

15

For more than thirty years Natalie Goldberg has been challenging and cheering on writers with her books and workshops. In her groundbreaking first book, she brings together Zen meditation and writing in a new way. Writing practice, as she calls it, is no different from other forms of Zen practice—"it is backed by two thousand years of studying the mind." This thirtieth-anniversary edition includes new forewords by Julia Cameron and Bill Addison. It also includes a new preface in which Goldberg reflects on the enduring quality of the teachings here. She writes, "What have I learned about writing over these thirty years? I’ve written fourteen books, and it’s the practice here in Bones that is the foundation, sustaining and building my writing voice, that keeps me honest, teaches me how to endure the hard times and how to drop below discursive thinking, to taste the real meat of our minds and the life around us."

Become a Librarian

Reviews

Popular Reviews

Reviews with the most likes.

April 8, 2014

Make this a significant part of your writing toolkit. Worth the work to use in building your writing skills. There's a reason this has a 25th anniversary edition. It remains relevant.

June 9, 2002
June 10, 2020

Top Prompts

Featured Prompt

3,356 books

#3,356 in What are your favorite books of all time?

When you think back on every book you've ever read, what are some of your favorites? These can be from any time of your life – books that resonated with you as a kid, ones that shaped your personal...

#1
The Lord of the Rings
#2
Dune
#3
1984
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Way of Kings
Pride and Prejudice
Mistborn: The Final Empire
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
The Hobbit
The Martian
The Hunger Games
Project Hail Mary