#뼛속까지내려가서써라 #나탈리골드버그 #글쓰기바이블 #글이글을쓴다 #쓰는것은내가아니다 #writingdownthebones #작가되기 #작가의마음가짐 #부디써라 #무조건쓰라 #여유를가지자 #생각이글을쓴다 #당신은사라진다 #쓰레기같은글 #첫마음 #첫마음을잊지말자 #소설쓰기 #북클럽 #독서모임📖 #책과삶이나일레라 #나일레라 #블로그챌린지 #인플루언서되기
❗📣Książka dla wszystkich, którzy pragną pisać! Już 5 czerwca w naszym wydawnictwie ukaże się “Uwolnij wewnętrzny głos. Poradnik dla pisarzy i pisarek” Natalie Goldberg. Ponad milion sprzedanych egzemplarzy w kilkunastu krajach❗ To najlepiej sprzedający się poradnik dla piszących, który pomaga uwolnić kreatywność i nabrać wprawy w ubieraniu myśli w słowa. 🖋️ Autorka z humorem i wnikliwością inspiruje przyszłych pisarzy do podjęcia kroku w kierunku kreatywnej twórczości. Na czym polega bycie pisarzem❓ To opowiadanie szczegółów, które składają się na historię. Ta książka to po części przewodnik po pisaniu, po części filozofia zen i po części osobisty pamiętnik. Autorka, która od lat łączy pisanie z medytacją, dzieli się sugestiami, zachętami oraz praktycznymi wskazówkami dotyczącymi różnych aspektów pisarskiego rzemiosła: 📝 pisania od „pierwszych myśli” (trzymaj rękę w ruchu, nie przekreślaj, po prostu przelej to na papier), 📝 słuchania (pisanie to w dziewięćdziesięciu procentach słuchanie; im głębiej słuchasz, tym lepiej piszesz), 📝 używania czasowników (zapewniają energię), 📝 przezwyciężania wątpliwości (wątpliwości to tortura, nie słuchaj ich), 📝 a nawet wyboru restauracji, w której piszesz. Porady zawarte w jej książce, przedstawione w krótkich rozdziałach o zabawnych tytułach, zainspirują każdego, kto pisze – lub kto tego pragnie. 📘 “Uwolnij wewnętrzny głos. Poradnik dla pisarzy i pisarek” Natalie Goldberg, tłum. Ewa Pater-Podgórna. 📅 Premiera: 5.06. #wydawnictworelacja #poradnik #bookstagrampl #igreads #literatura #bookstagram #book #książka #reader #premiera #czytanie #dokument #czytam #pisarz #writer #nataliegoldberg #uwolnijwewnętrznygłos #writingdownthebones #writing #pisanie #pisarstwo
Ilonamatusch (Schreibküche)-Klartext! Mein heutiger Arbeitstag hat megaproduktiv in einem meiner Lieblingslokale gestartet. Überarbeiten! So viel angenehmer, wenn genügend Zeit zum Rohtext verstrichen ist. Distanz, mein Geheimrezept für fast alle Projekte. Und ein kleiner Blogrohtext zum Thema Fehler ist mir auch noch "passiert". #schreibflow #schreiballtag #schreibküche #schreiben #writerslife #writingdownthebones #schreibprozess #klartext #distanceworks #schwarzeskameel
I think about home, how it’s a people and a place. It’s a comforting hand on the shoulder with a gentle squeeze and the offer of seconds to a meal or a glass of wine. It’s the rushing before you’re late to work but also the needing to pause to stop to take in just how the light is coming in through the panes, just how it dances on the walls across the table, through the water in the vase, and how it makes everything feel oh so right even if your insides feel oh so wrong. It’s the walking with bare feet out onto the back steps and breathing deeply the coolness of the air before the warmth steals away with it. It’s the playful jokes and straightforwardness of a person who knows you and loves you and can say things to you honestly because time has taken away all shyness and life is too short to not honor one another with honesty. It’s the safety and the warmth and all the things I love about the places and the people that feel like home.
{attention economy, go mode} what is it worth if the gardenia tree across the street has been blooming for however long it’s been blooming without you noticing? what if once you see it, you pluck enough to fill a bowl to the rim & place it in your kitchen, what if you don’t pay attention to them then, is that even worse than before? before at least you could swear high & low you didn’t know, but what about when you do? what happens when beauty goes ignored at worst or unnoticed as most gracious interpretation, does the Earth have an ache of some sort, when some excellent occurrence of events is left unattended? (some taut tendril on a tiny vine spiraled into the light ideally beamed upon, some dolphin jumping into the sun.) is it a pilgrimage to visit it, a neighboring gardenia tree, to traverse the drainage ditch dry in dollarweed green to stand at its bobbing blossoms in the breeze, head height below the top of its leaves? (if it is to go to Bodhgaya then it is to the gardenia.) asked another way, if a gardenia blooms in the forest without anyone around to smell it, does it still bloom? the answer, of course, is of course it do. #Om #valuejudgements #grasspalace #attentioneconomy “The very seeing of beauty is an art.” —Jiddu Krishnamurti “Attention is the rarest & purest form of generosity.” —Simone Weil “The universe as we know it is a joint product of the observer & the observed.” —Pierre Tielhard de Chardin “Attention without feeling is only a report.” —Mary Oliver “Perception is a form of action.” —Michael Stone Once upon a time the Buddha was walking when he paused & pointed to the ground & said, “This is a suitable site to build a temple.” Indra then plucked a blade of grass & stuck it at the spot where the Buddha had pointed. Indra declared, “The temple is built!” The Buddha smiled. —Book of Equanimity, Case 4
Vi leser denne 📖 i dag, vi, og du verden så mange 💡og 💬 det kom ut av det ☀️Kanskje selskapet av 🐶 og 😻drysset litt ekstra magi over «feel and flow-prosessen»😉🌸 #writingdownthebones #nataliegoldberg #theartistsway #juliacameron #skriv #les #writerlife #indieauthor #indiewriter #indiepublisher #furrycompanions #böker #boker #bog
{dirt work, gravy train} there actually is no end to dancing because there is no end to being in a body (until the end of being in a body). until then, until the end, there is no escaping embodiment, no out of office stepped away from the desk be back shortly sign. all day every day it’s drink this shift this adjust this hair up hair down tired wired desperately sad happier than can be said ok not great quiet overly loud available unavailable open closed all day every day it’s legs breath breasts endocrine system dry eyes dry elbows getting sweaty the emergence of odors from crevassed places all day every day there’s no getting out of it. even sleeping all night every night there’s turning, yearning, the subconscious secrets of dreams. there’s this & that activity, the ephemeral sectors of public & private, yet there’s never an end to you, you keep flowing on in ribbon-form sense of self, in contextual continuity, in rippling roll of inhabited action. all day every day & all of the nights, your body, you, go everywhere together, you choose how you do it, as the scene keeps morphing through movement & changes to conditions, you influentially affect how you unspool the thread of connection, how you link the seconds together. from the bathroom to the trash, angling sideways in an aisle, getting dressed, when you do it like dancing then there is no end to it, to dancing, or to being our body. #Om #phenomenology #ephemeralsectors “We experience the world around us & ourselves with, through & because of our living bodies.” —Dr. Anil Seth “Awakening is not a state. Awakening is a process that doesn’t have an end because delusion doesn’t have an end. Delusions are part of the natural experience of being human so we need to be awake to our delusions. It’s not like you have awakening & its opposite is delusion. You have moments of awakening, so it’s temporal, and moments of delusion.” —Michael Stone “Do you do it from ‘ugh’ or do it like ‘ah’?” —Ram Dass
Today I had coffee with a friend who writes herself affirmations every morning and sometimes multiple times a day: “I have lovely freckles” “I am empathetic” “I have not allowed those who have hurt me, to harden me” “My socks are always cool” And I’m realizing it has always come easy for me, this offering to others a kind word, an affirmation even love. It has felt natural and intrinsic and often I don’t even think about doing it. Its like breathing in a way, and perhaps my therapist would say a wounded child part of me so freely offers because there was a time I too wanted the same from others. The same easy offering. And in seeing my friends list of affirmations to herself, I am realizing that while it comes easy to freely offer this to others, I tend to forget how *necessary* it is to offer the same care to myself. How, perhaps, this offering is the most important one to give and receive: The love offered to Oneself by Oneself. I think what I’m trying to say, what I’m working through in my head this morning, is that I’m grateful for the women in my life who are gently and compassionately teaching me that the act of showering myself in love, kindness and awe is my most important work.
Insight of the Day: “Only when we own our story are we able to pen the perfect ending.” — 🪬Tonya🪬
Writing helps me understand myself and how I fit in the world and how my experiences and feelings fit in my life. Join a small group writing circle... visit https://lisafullercoaching.com/wild-writing-circle/ to learn more. #writingdownthebones #wildwriting #writingcircles #parentwriting
📝 MORNING PAGES 📝 I’ve been reading Writing Down the Bones by @nataliegoldberg4 and it has inspired me to revive my Morning Pages practice - something I did every day in 2020 and 2021, but sadly abandoned as life got busier. Prioritizing this ritual again is bringing me great joy. ✍️ Fittingly, I’m also reading “Morning Pages” by @kfeiffer (which releases tomorrow!), a captivating epistolary novel told through the main character’s own morning pages. Have you ever done morning pages? How have they helped your writing practice? #MorningPages #JuliaCameron #NatalieGoldberg #WritingDownTheBones #KateFeiffer #WritingPractice #FreeWriting
Dusss... Dat is eigenlijk alles :-) Ik ben gek op haar boek, 'Schrijven van vanuit je hart' #schrijven #writing #lerenschrijven #schrijvers #nathaliegoldberg #writingdownthebones
Klartext! Mein heutiger Arbeitstag hat megaproduktiv in einem meiner Lieblingslokale gestartet. Überarbeiten! So viel angenehmer, wenn genügend Zeit zum Rohtext verstrichen ist. Distanz, mein Geheimrezept für fast alle Projekte. Und ein kleiner Blogrohtext zum Thema Fehler ist mir auch noch "passiert". #schreibflow #schreiballtag #schreibküche #schreiben #writerslife #writingdownthebones #schreibprozess #klartext #distanceworks #schwarzeskameel
#writerfriendschallenge What’s inspiring me this month? 🖊️🌸🖊️🌸🖊️🌸🖊️🌸🖊️🌸🖊️🌸🖊️🌸🖊️ So many things are inspiring me: nature in bloom, Writing Down the Bones (a new writing craft book), much needed time outdoors, a goal of finishing book 3, a dream of a solo writer’s retreat, & these kids- the Writers Club Gang! Their creativity may inspire you as well. They seem to never run out of ideas! 🌸 One writer is penning lyrics to an album. 🖊️ 4 writers wrote independent stories & have decided to mash them up into 1. 🌸 Another writer is creating his own genre- “realistic fiction that’s not very realistic!” 😀 🖊️ I’m intrigued by another’s working title, “The Horrors of Sleeping in Late.” It is packed with shocking twists! 🌸 Another 2 are co-writing. 🖊️ And lastly, a self proclaimed legacy member (She’s been a member from the club’s inception) is determined to finish writing her 1st book. I know she’ll do it! 🥰 I’m usually exhausted at the end of a school day- but this creative bunch is worth the 2nd push! They are full of talent & their energy is infectious. Not to mention, they are pretty fantastic souls to be around. Who encourages you to keep on writing or to go for your dreams? 🖊️ 🌸 🖊️ #writerfriendschallenge #inspiration #writinginspiration #chasingdreams #writersclub #youngwriters #violetjenkins #middlegradewriters #writingdownthebones #writingcraft #writingcraftbooks #endofyear
{dynamic normalcy} they can’t, cherry blossoms can’t dance, but if they could, how would they? the question is not would they because they would, the way any wooden doll longs to come alive & stand after hours of being propped against pillows, awaiting an interaction to be made momentarily animated. cherry blossoms can’t dance but humans do, so if you were to move like a cherry blossom, how would you? how does light pink bend on a stem, what reaching of limbs portrays being entirely lined by tiny while undeniable patterns of petals? in full fairness, dear dancer, it would be apt of you to ask at which stage are you demonstrating, are these buds you’re being or has limpness triggered abscission, or is this the prime time of pink peak, of dangly delicateness & with it you open your arms apart & float them slow, as soft as possible, surrender to sinew’s wisdom? cherry blossoms can’t dance, but you can. or slash back somatic vocab, forget twirls if they turn you off or shut you down. just the hemispheric shift of rotation’s ambulation, to have organs that absorb as steps reverberate up into guts in the gift that is just to walk, the shudder resiliently attuned to be ordinarily on the move. cherry blossoms would wish to do a lot that is normal to you, to glance at a person passing by at a happiness in their life, intersecting their lick of ice cream, intersecting their smile & to have arrived at the right time to hear Clair de Lune. we each only get so much. Renoir at the end had such bad arthritis he had to strap a paintbrush to his hand, Monet lost his eyesight. to botany or body, death comes in some seemingly standard situation in a string of things temporally sensical, which makes each moment anything but ordinary. claim this life, the meditation went, bone by bone, breath by breath. pretend you’re a petal, let go of your neck. and you can remember that no matter how you move, when you look at a flower, the flower looks back at you. #Om #springinthecity #nyc “And I think of each life as a flower, as common as a field daisy & as singular, and each name a comfortable music in the mouth, each body a lion of courage & something precious to the earth.” —Mary Oliver
Fat Writing Group 🥳 Online, May 11 and 12! Rest and Renewal is the theme! Pro Crying Space! You do not have to be good! Writing is Healing! All the details are in the Eventbrite link: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/fat-girls-hiking-8629131029 #FatWritingGroup #FatCommunity #FatGirlsHiking #TrailsNotScales #BodyLiberation #RestIsResistance #WritingDownTheBones #FatBabes
#nataliegoldberg #writingdownthebones #elgozodeescribir #literatura
Exercise 3 of #writingdownthebones and I actually spent more time editing this graphic than writing the thing 🫠 The writing itself was a useful practice in bringing details to the page that we are quick to forget exists in the real world. Details that can really set a scene up for a reader. As authors, we often forget that while we see a full scene and ambiance in our imagination, a reader needs to be brought into that same scene. These lines are from describing a piece of art in my office that I absolutely love and can’t repost. I’m really enjoying these prompts and I am taking my time with them this time around instead of making it a chore. #writerstips #writer #writingprompts #dailyprompt #books #nonfiction #writingpractice #author
Celebrating that I’ve just been invited to speak on the @charlestonwomen podcast, interviewed by recent Ted X speaker, TV Host, and local celeb, Erin Kienzle! We will be chatting all about what a day in the life of a freelance writer looks like; my favorite stories that I’ve written for the publication; what I’m researching and working on now; and what I’m most excited about that is innovating at the magazine. Watch this space: details are coming soon about when the podcast will drop! . . . . . #podcastinglife #podcast🎧 #publicspeakingskills #publicspeakers #freelancewriter #freelancewriting #freelancewriters #writingdownthebones #writingskills #writingislife #researching #researchers #researcherlife
2311 Earth Day on Moonday I release myself of all contracts— KNOWN and UNKNOWN- that no longer serve me, are no good for me, or are not mine. I am financially solid. I am financially abundant. I am financially healthy + wealthy. I am a writer. I embrace My TruTh. I am IN Spain. I embrace my Truth. I am in a loving, healthy relationship. I embrace my truth. I release all blockages. I release distractions. I release untruths. I embrace my truth. I cultivate MY talents. I cultivate creativity. I seek balance: I seek joy. l am safe. l am loved. I am wise. I am divinely protected. I am divinely guided. I go about Life knowing, l've got this! I know the signs. I trust MY INTUITION. I can always trust my intuition. I release myself of self-doubt: l embrace my truth. 💛 MC5 2311 220424 #fullmoon #earthday #writingdownthebones #callitaritual #writing #words #newwordsnewnotemc5
Writing Down the Bones Day 2 ✍️ Topic: Set a timer for 10 minutes and start your paper with: “I’m not thinking about…” This one is supposed to encourage you to write about the things we often avoid thinking about (trauma, love, loneliness, the economy) all those lovely little things we file away so we can continue to function. And in fact, the first time I used this deck, that’s exactly where my mind went. And I let it. And it was raw. And dark. And sad. THIS time (post shadow work and self-healing) I actually found my mind wandering the same way my first prompt went but more grounded in reality. For example, I had to start over EVERY TIME something in real life distracted me (see: adhd). Instead of writing about a fictional and mysterious version of my partner and I meeting, I wrote about my dogs and their personalities and how dull the real world is (not including my dogs, which are actually quite interesting when made into archetypes). Conclusion? I don’t like “not thinking” it feels wrong and forced. But it’s very easy for my mind to wander, so I’d be curious how others took this one? #writing #writer #writingprompts #writingdownthebones #nonfiction #writingpractice #author #indieauthor #adhd #dailywriting #quotes
New #writingtool #writingdownthebones #nataliegoldberg
{zoom the moon} i wonder what it would be like to see the Grand Canyon. would it ease all your ills, heal your ails & pains? would its amazingness stay in your cells & transform the ordinary activity of flipping underwear outside in when folding them fresh from being cleaned into a form of actionable gratitude simply by having laid eyes on its striations (striations to rival the developed deltoids of tank-topped basketball players, as if eons of elements present themselves for sinewed inspiration), will storing that sight inside your mind alchemize daily metals of mundanity into the gold of glad attitude? would it be a bit like giving a cat nip, watching them roll & writhe against its effects, energizing even an old body into kittenish capacity? could Western reds & blues & muted hues be as eye-flutteringly affecting as the scent of crushed-up oranges? (could anything????) if everyone saw the Grand Canyon, would all fire cease? would warring hatred turn into regenerative will, saying hey you know that thing about gods? let’s forget it & focus on food, water & sleep, because those problems can be answered at least. it would be good, i imagine, to have that incarnate opportunity, sentience & sediment embedded in embodied blessing, but maybe what’s mutually medicinal is the wind & that, lucky for us, blows ubiquitously, no matter how small the space. but to see it, to breathe it, to be there in skin, to stand at its edge & shout wow into its width, to let distant depth spill tears down your face, would it solve all your problems, would it make everything ok? i wonder what it might be like to see the Grand Canyon someday. #Om #medicinalwind #grandcanyon #actionablegratitude #itmusthavebeentheroses “The Buddha actually touches & touched every place, even the smallest moments down to the size of a mustard seed. The place you’re sitting right now is also the place where the Buddha sits. You don’t have to live the Buddha’s life to become a Buddha, you have your own life. There’s no place in reality where the Buddha didn’t wake up— there’s no place in your life that can’t be awakened. That’s a lesson we need over & over.” —Michael Stone #michaelstoneteaching #lotussutra
Special shoutout to @goscribbler for including this deck in a box a million years ago because 👀 it do be coming back into my writing routine every few months when I start to lose my ideas. Topic: Begin with “I’m thinking of” and every time you get stuck simply come back again to “I’m thinking of” and keep going. The entirety of this writing exercise was a prime example of an adhd mind but (for your sake) I only included less unhinged/distracted lines to draw you in ;) But really, this is such a great tool for writers. 60 cards. 60 topics designed to get your writing muscles working and your mind thinking outside of your normal perception. I’ll be posting my excerpts over the next few days while I try to pry myself from editing “The Voices of Our Past” and reading and remind myself that I am a writer at heart ♥️
If you don’t have my friend Katie Arnold’s brilliant new book Brief Flashings in the Phenomenal World, YOU HAVE TO GET IT. It has running and rivers (the Middle Fork of the Salmon, no less). It has struggle and redemption. It has Writing Down the Bones wisewoman Natalie Goldberg. And it has Katie’s own gentle, brilliant wisdom, which I keep reading and using over and over. (I even blurbed it, after devouring it in 24 hours.) Order where you get your fav books! CONGRATS ON THIS NEW BABY, BRILLIANT KATIE!! #middleforksalmonriver #writingdownthebones #rafting #running #zen #meditation
6 hours of writing practice. You in? My third virtual writing practice retreat starts tomorrow at 8:00 am PST ☀️ No experience necessary, just a heartbeat and the desire to feel more alive. Details at link in bio ✏️ #writingpractice #nataliegoldberg #amwriting #writingdownthebones #PromoteYourArtApril
{absolumente, elephant juice} supplements are supplements because they supplement— they make up for the minority of the majority you endeavor to get when you consume whatever you do (what does one intend to get from banana bread other than vitamin j for enjoyment?). not enough chicken to chew? opt for powdered birthday cake flavor in shape of a shake swallowed out of styrofoam, or drop an oily dose of d’s essentiality against your lips, in lieu of swordfish & sun. supplements supplement but they can’t supplant, a breeze machine doesn’t eradicate the neural need for whatever works the wind up into a rush between Alpine peaks & around the convenient store corner. no sunset screen from a dvd surpasses photons fitting unfiltered into your protons, even if just above the littered road. one must take what one can get, though there is something to so close but so far— in some regards, still so far. is it nourishing enough to supplement what isn’t in stock, to piecemeal weave the tapestry? to get a little of that there, more of it here, a whole gobsmacking lot of it there? to get it in a glass case, to see its modeling, but not to own it entirely, to not be able to take it out of the box & shake it, shed dead skin on it. you breathe differently when what you feel is love, when it’s really love you feel. you do, it’s an indisputable truth. you breathe deeper. you breathe deeper underneath what isn’t a substitute for white ibis wings flying in famous v, or when you open your eyes from unconsciousness & see a scene of beauty so perfect you can’t believe, the trading waving of sparkle light hopping impossibly across spacious static in the backyard, blurred from sleep across the green. and despite what you don’t have no matter how fervent the urging, how gnawing the need, no preoccupation can totally block out carrot’s unmistakable taste. it might not make up for, but it’s also not nothing. it’s not nothing to simulate & best guess, and, dually, there ain’t nothing like the real thing, baby. there is no substitute for what’s sincere. #Om #absolumente #elephantjuice #cloudsinmycoffee
{muscular meditation} waiting to receive a present, to be given a gift, is a singular kind of somatic exercise. close your eyes someone says hold out your hand (this could go bad) & you stand in some mix of giddy gladness, with some kind of an energized spine, playing the waiting game, nerve endings at the ready. equally enthralling is the not knowing one’s coming, until that actual instant ignorant that outside your door you’d find a friend with balloon animals blown up by a soccer pump, YouTube tutorialed that day & markered on a kitty face. you can’t expect but you can be open. that’s why you have to exercise, so you can catch surprises as they pummel you the whole day through & even at night while you dream, waking up & saying well i wasn’t planning on that happening… and it can’t come if you’re not strong enough so you have to keep your conditioning up. it won’t show up if you’re not soft enough either, you have to get limber stay limber be limber to bend into handshakes, eye gaze & name exchange, becoming more than you were before you said hi i’m (hi i’m the genetic definition of neuroplastic action). imbued in body now the holding who, the knowing new, that the Ali shuffle is a stripe but bachata is a triangle, you can put as much flair on either of them as you want, unless you’re trying to be taken seriously when you box. the wigglier the hips the better in the dance steps & either you lead or you let yourself be, while every day’s events take the reins in the ultimate waltz, surprise after surprise, gift after gift, lesson after lesson after lesson after lesson (like magnesium & ashwagandha help deepen sleep & three weeks means the creatine has saturated your bloodstream). #Om #hyacinthgifts #geneticdefinition #magnesiumandashwagandha “Increasing your energy isn’t just about renewing it, it’s also about your capacity to tolerate it. More isn’t always better. Better is better. And it’s not just about what you do to the body, but what the body will allow in. Awareness of energy tolerance capacity is the first step toward changing it.” —Dr. Perry Nichols #stopchasingpain #energytolerancecapacity
Look what my sweetheart surprised me with after I posted that last video about my favorite writing inspiration books! I'm already on card #3 for my morning pages. Video here: https://youtu.be/aFH9a-KaRNE?si=I7tKOzxe6Q8y4v_c #writing #amwriting #creativewriting #fiction #author #authorsofinstagram #nataliegoldberg #writingdownthebones
Den här boken läste jag när jag var typ 15 och det var som att någon tänt en fackla i en mörk grotta. Det var nog första gången som någon formulerade sådant som jag kände kring mig själv och skrivandet, men som jag inte hade ord för. Hittade den på ett bibliotek nu, 30 år senare. Och wow! Jag har bara läst inledningen men redan där stod så mycket som jag har integrerat i mitt skrivande och mitt liv, men som jag hade glömt bort var det kom ifrån. #författare #barnboksförfattare #författarliv #författardrömmar #skriva #skrivande #skrivprocess #kreativitet #skapande #nataliegoldberg #writingdownthebones #skrivtips #författarvardag #boktips #lästips
{magical realism, special message} if you pay attention to the Earth, there is always something to look forward to. mango season ends but if you’re not dead & there’s no drought, then it comes again. (as you can see, it’s not guaranteed.) trees lose their leaves & then they return, if the bark they boast is alive as are your bones, then the two of you together, tree being & human being, you get to look at each other again, skin to skin. if you twist & turn, the mahogany doesn’t move but the views do. there will forever be some new sight to find, the likes of a sky sandwich between the tips of trees meeting, pockets of lilac light to lift up your eyes to (true sources of importance). a high sky can receive your gaze & also your faith, a pertinent prayer is to say i’m sorry to the blue above, to apologize aloud to the clouds, as if angels are hidden in their air & wings flap back forgiveness as the fluffy stuff absorbs your pleas. you can also say thanks, just stare up at sky & say thanks thanks thanks thanks thanks, thanks for this. (when you’ve spent time in stress, then the saying of “please, spirits of life, help me live” is a big thought in your mind.) if you can make it, the Earth will keep revealing to you new nows, that at April’s amount of sunlighted hours you’ll get gardenia breezes & jasmine wind, you’ll sit out in it while an Italian tells you to stick a toothpick into rolled rosettes of prosciutto, fry it while tasting the needed means for more salt or more sugar until the fingertip fit into the lips determines it’s done. you need to enjoy like you need to eat. you know, if your body is still getting hungry, it’s a good thing, it means it wants to live, it wants to be the animal it is. #Om #leavesleave #sourcesofimportance #aprilsamount “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread.” —John Muir #beautyaswellasbread
No. 4 Essay // Rain Gutters (4.9 2024) I have these memories of the house we lived in when my parents got divorced. It was in a small town, the ones where you know all the kids on your street. The neighbors across the street were around our age and we’d play in their back yard, hop the fence then walk the train tracks as a shortcut to anywhere we needed to go. I think that neighbor boy was my first kiss, I remember running away afterwards. When I got older I would babysit the neighbor next to us and across the street from him. I remember my high school boyfriend helped me babysit the boy next door, Hudson, on one such incident. He helped the boy handcuff me and then I remember him yanking me up using the chain that held both hands together. It hurt like hell. I remember being so angry with him, my then high school boyfriend. He laughed and I ignored him. I look back now thinking, it’s not surprising why men are so used to small violences toward women. It starts young, masked in a playfulness that should feel safe and innocent, and it ends with laughter, attempts to minimize our pain. I sometimes wonder if women are easy to harm, easy to gaslight and if this is the cost of our softness and vulnerability… Is the cost of these things always the potential for harm? I remember growing up on this street, staying out until the street lights flickered on, barefoot, always barefoot, biking with toes curled around the pedals, climbing the biggest tree in the park. Today I’m thinking about when I was younger though, how in the spring it would rain so hard. And because it was spring the rain would fall warm on the concrete. How the street would fill with water, and the image in front of your face was muted and more contrasting and we would run inside and put on our bathing suits. Once outside again, we’d run to the end of the driveway, we’d lay in the gutters feeling the strong pull of so much water pushing us toward the drains further down. I can’t imagine doing this now, today in 2024, and the thought makes me want to cry. We are so desperate to grow up, to fall in love, to be powerful, accomplished, but on days like today […] ↓ continued in comments
Oh thank you Natalie Goldberg for your Writing Practice, WRITING DOWN THE BONES and all the lessons within. This particular one, the drive toward specificity, is one that serves me and my writing every single time I show up to the page. When we write we need to Be specific. Don't write "tree," write "Sycamore." Don't write "car," write "Cadillac." It's simple advice, but it is advice I need to be reminded of. Even when working with Natalie Goldberg during one of her retreats I remember complaining saying, "Oh! I forgot to be specific in this piece. I don't know why I keep doing that!" And she said that was fine, because simple knowing it was missing was already doing the work. Which it ends up is also very true because writing is rewriting, so if you don't remember the specifics in your drafts, you can carry this lesson into your revision to pack just as powerful a punch! It will bring your written worlds to life. Do you also see the hidden lesson here? While you walk in this world, pay attention to the specifics. Learn names, see details, PAY ATTENTION. You need all of that information for the next time you are writing! Do you already have a specialized knowledge in a certain category that you would not need to research to find specific names of things if you were writing about them? Let us know in the comments! #lessonlearned #lessonshared #100dayproject #stopwritingalone #writingpractice #writingdownthebones
{following the subtle current upstream} you know when your arm is exposed & out the window it goes? into momentum-made wind that rushes faster than feet can & airflow envelops it in a ribbon-wrap of wound-around wind & wow, wow is what you utter as car wheels zoom. if the little hairs on the back of your neck are there to stand at attention when a killer is close, when a predator pretends to be a friend (sometimes so smoothly the hairs get duped), then what’s the register for when beauty is as close to you as wind on your skin? it feels good from fingers through forearm to armpit when wind can get everywhere at once fast as a flash no questions asked granted access (it’s giggle city), but even in long sleeves fitted at wrists it’s nice when the wind has to work for it a bit, get up in there, flap that fabric. it’s like moving your hair up or across & back from your neck, the relief from heat, relishing the lift from the wind like those dancers did. that’s how the trees jiggle & wiggle in branches’ ballet, my friend who died & came back to life said he’d watch them from his hospital bed, in soundtrack to machine beeps the silent swaying at the tops of the trees. and if it takes dying to say seeing it was like an alien sight, a world we don’t notice when really we should, then take it from him, don’t believe me. we use our own wind to speak, some tongue telling me they look at a photo of deceased beings & shout, i’m not coming yet! (a humorously true sentiment.) or on an Italian accent breathing the kindest advice, don’t worry much, said with smile’s sweet meaning. sound travels on air & hits it as hearing, making ear consciousness in the Buddhist idea of mutual arising (the fact that all phenomena arise in relation), you become you because a muffled Free Bird floats across the air between yards & as rough as it is when your nose knows cologne, it’s the opposite when the Creep chorus wafts like toast from the convertible that pulled up at the right time for a Radiohead lover like you. #Om #callmethebreeze #sweetmeaning #mutualarising #प्रतीत्यसमुत्पाद #gigglecity #lynyrdskynyrd “Every gravitational orientation has its gifts.” —Jill Miller
✍️I grew up with Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg and in my opinion she has the best teachings on writing craft. Here is a card from her Writing Down the Bones Deck 🦴🦴 Write about Weather Take 5- 10 minutes. Put your pen to the page and don’t lift it. this promotes the drafting brain and helps keep the editing brain quiet. It is hard at first but once you actually let yourself say what you want without criticism you will unlock a whole new level of story telling. The truth lies in the words that are not self edited. Try it. Let me know how it goes. No condemnation if after the exercises all you have is nonsense - that doesn’t matter, what matters is that you write. Let your creative brain have the page. @nataliegoldberg4 #nataliegoldberg #writingdownthebones #timedwriting #letswrite #writingprompt #weatherwriting #ernesthemingway
Thursday thoughts. #writersofinstagram #writingdownthebones
{baselines & bell curves, develocitization} you could have done other things, you could’ve done differently, but you chose to stay home & listen to crickets sing day in to night. the choice was right. to wait & watch the day fade. as light leaves, you can’t get light back, no matter how bad you’d want it. you’ll have to wait until morning to see if leaves are green again, to see leaves green again, to see trees as green on top & brown on bottom. you should act so excited to see it again if you get to, as black gives way to white & specks of the spectrum are bounced off or absorbed, giving us blue in our sky & blue in our eyes as the rest of the rainbow scatters. but for now everything’s just black. you have to trust the sun, that it will return, to be patient in the hours that not being day takes, your willingness to be without light & to be the ways you are in the night, to be what darkness brings up & brings out. it’s an ultimate act of sharing, saying ok to latitude’s trade, ok sure here you go here’s the love of my life, here’s the thing that keeps me alive, here, you can have the light. you can keep it awhile— as long as it takes me to sleep— but after that i get it back, ok? we have to be willing to exchange the day for dark & dark for day. when the light is gone, you can look up & up & up & go whoa those stars are not in my sky, i am in them (they are in me) & when the light comes you can look up & up & up & never tire of the sights you find in your irises. #Om #develocitization #makeleavesgreenagain #whiteisallcolorcombined #blackistheabsenceofcolor #specksofthespectrum
I was very excited this morning to wake up to an email about a new online course from Natalie Goldberg: Sitting Down The Bones. The focus this time is on meditation practice, with a particular Zen lens, though it seems there will be some writing involved - of course there is! The course outline seems first rate, and I know that the teaching materials from Prajna Studios @shambhala_publications will simply be the best. Well organised, elegantly produced. There are live calls with Natalie too, plus weekly meditation sessions. Really good timing for me, as I’m just this week completing The Magic of Meditation with Gaylon Ferguson, which has been fantastic in introducing new perspectives on mindfulness and meditation. ‘I come from a certain place …’ I love how Natalie starts with that, and then invites us to be part of the lineage too. I love how we are invited to think about our own lineages. People who know me know I love Natalie! She is one of the great teachers: grounded, funny, inquisitive, generous. Present - very present. She resisted teaching online for a long time but she makes it work like no other. I am very happy about this. Lots of love all round. I’ll add a link in my Story too. Hope to see some of you there. #nataliegoldberg #meditation #mindfulness #creativewriting #writingdownthebones
Re-reading #writingdownthebones this month. #nataliegoldberg
The makings of something good. #Green notebook because green is the symbol for #newbeginnings. I feel a #renewal today on this #Easter Sunday. #writingdownthebones
{cosmic vertigo} when you feel your sanity cracking, the unequivocally most important thing is the smell of jasmine. when you’re walking to the trash to throw out what’s become broken because entropy is the only absolute you can invest in, then when you open the garden gate before you can open the garbage lid, you should definitely bend over to fit your face against the flowers & do what your nose knows to, to inhale. no matter how bad anxiousness gets you just have to make it through to the next wind. it’ll feel like the most beautiful wind you’ve ever felt in your life or it’ll just feel nice. either way, wind wins & you benefit. there’s this phenomenon in Buddhism called mind to mind transmission, where you don’t, for example, just read someone’s words, you join in mental action with them, you link up lives & on the other side you’ve journeyed your mind into tandem transformation. it’s so good to be corporeally supported by singing Oasis with Oasis, of having heard it so many times you know when to sing she knows it’s too late when we’re walking on by or she knows it’s too late when she’s walking on by & the more sure of the verbiage, the more confident the volume. that’s jasmine transmission, wind transmission, lyrics transmission, the transition transmission that brings you into new nows never-endingly, that delivers you to sit & tip olive oil straight off the plate into your mouth while laughing about it. it’s olive oil transmission & little did you know it was on its way, in velvet texture without diminishment of mixed meal ingredients to share taste’s attention, just oil & its added herbs, painting laughs in a thicker mixture. it’s this that’s lived for, to appreciate the imbued sensitive intelligence of having a hand that can find the door handle in the dark. #Om #cosmicvertigo #mindtomindtransmission #dontlookbackinanger #truedharmaeye
When the rain begins to fall ... #writingdownthebones #springtimeintriest #lovemylife
{cabbage bandages} it’s sweet when a cat paw touches some part of your arm or the side of your thigh if you’re close on a couch, that in itself will stop your speed for at least a little bit. or if it circles & turns & plops against you, backend wedged, their warmth & their weight feels so good. but when a cat chin rests delicate against the soft hair on your forearm, it renders you useless to do anything other than swoon, even big men get arrested by adoration (if unallergic). when they lay their little head on you & close their little kitty slits of divine eyes, exhale in extended purr, you’re just done, done like wet food in tuna juice (but i have noticed they do not seem to like it as much when you lay your head on them). what could be better in this life than that, than cats, except maybe there are more in the next dimension, tiger-sized ones to snuggle with that won’t bite your head off. when i die, i will definitely miss cats. (and music.) but what i’ll really really miss is the blue of blue sky. i love all blues, i do, i do, i do, but when i die, let me tell you, what i will miss the most is sky blue. (can you imagine having a blue cat?) #Om #manchesterisblue #beachbreeze I thank You God for most this amazing day For the leaping greenly spirits of trees And a blue true dream of sky And for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes E.E. Cummings #nowtheearsofmyearsawakeandnowtheeyesofmyeyesareopened #bluetruedreamofsky
3/20 2024 #notesfrommyphone I was just sitting inside by the window when I noticed an acquaintance of mine from graduate school. She’s outside this little coffee/cocktail bar with her husband, they must have just arrived, two fresh beers on the table, perhaps meeting up after work as both are dressed in professional clothing. Belts and nice shoes etc. They are laughing. It’s warm today, so both wear shades, both seem happy. I remember they have two twin boys, which I remember was a surprise when they found out. It still seems like they have a lot of fun together. They are laughing and raising their hands like maybe telling a story that involves some kind of flailing. He’s a high school teacher so maybe it’s something the kids did today. Her head goes back with another laugh. It’s cute. The way she leans over the table conspiratorially elbows bent and his head dips in like they are sharing some secret plan. It’s cute. He helps finish her drink. And that’s that, they are leaving now. Must just be a quick beer before heading home to the boys. But it seemed like they made the most of this little window together. They took every breath. — [Photo Cred: all images in collage are from Pinterest, so if you know the creators let me know. I just enjoy making collages out of these]
{somatic attitudes} the right wind will slow you down in a crosswalk even when you try mindfully to keep a swift clip, knowing impatient drivers are ready to accelerate. but you should never begrudge a woman a moment to mess with her dress, she can’t help what the wind is doing to her. what you should feel is sad or bad that society’s taking away such extensive pleasure in the name of modesty & rush, not to let a dress blow, to not let a hem go. or clothed in kimono walk slow to feel corners catch in & against shins, along skin. maybe it’s more that the thigh-shower just has to acquiesce to the wind to expose, to ruffle up in moment’s show. maybe if conditioned to not resist wind, a skirt-wearer starts to look eventually for vents in enlivening effect, subconsciously searching to score a gust, or this would all be a bit admittedly much. the point being is it’s nice when the wind blows so beautifully you can’t stop your stopping, your stopping to go in whatever clothes, oh, oh (pause) my God, do you feel that? it’ll do it to you in the trees too, the wind in the greenery that lives on the limbs, ends bending in whispering brush & shimmering twist, in friction’s ability to sing. the wind reminds of all things that feel right, that feel aligned, like the second you start to say may i someone else asks glass of water? & you cease your speech immediately & say please. #Om #somaticattitudes #smṛti “When the wind blows, the trees move. This is not two events, but one. Wind blowing & trees waving are the same process. The tree displays the bodily power of the wind. The trees waving show the wind blowing. Reflecting shows light shining. They really go together.” —Alan Watts #alanwatts #interdependentorigination
Embrace the white space. Relish this rainy day indoors with quiet, inward activities and contemplation on the art of doing less: https://sleepyhollowink.substack.com/p/white-space #silence #writingdownthebones #writingcommunity #whitespace #linkinbio
Few books have done more for writers and creativity than Natalie Goldberg’s book Writing Down the Bones. She has a new book coming out this July called Writing on Empty, a memoir on the writer’s block that she experienced during the pandemic and what she did to work through it when all of her time-tested, tried and true methods to do so had stopped working. It promises to be an intriguing look into creativity and finding it when it's been lost. Have you ever experienced a creative block? What did you do to get through it? . . . #nataliegoldberg #writingdownthebones #authorquotes #writingmotivation #writersblock #creativity #writingonempty #iamawriter #ilovebeingawriter #writingishard #writingishardwork #writingisrewriting #womensfictionwriter #womensfictionauthor #booksbooksbooks #ilovetoread #ilovetoreadandwrite #writingthroughthehardtimes
Writing Down The Bones. Check it out, writers. #nataliegoldberg #writingdownthebones #punchthekeys #writenow #shareyourstory
{positive impulses, metabolic pathways} a two scone day is a pretty good day. and a warmed scone at that? things are ok. all manner of events are ongoing, cartels are cutting off necks, as are jihadists, women are getting drowned with rocks on top of them, some dads are scarring their sons, and someone somewhere is eating a scone. somewhere sometime there’s been fire & flood, too much water then not enough. but before weather worsens, it’s ideal, to sit just there in this chair, clouds offering a pseudo ceiling, proximity to a palm tree creating shade. before the rain changes, it’s a kind of ideal day. you can learn from baby feet nearby fascinated at being able to now not only step but step fast, one foot to the other in ecstatic tap, and with them a smile erupts unstoppably on a watcher, transference occurs in the non-space between non-selves, confusingly. see how she shows you somatics, shifting her teetering feet in teaching, movements in unpredicted script, where you let your form express instead of repress. it’s as if your eyeballs’ve gone soft, receiving the scene & the sight. it feels… nice. it feels good to look, to stare square into spring pink in bougainvillea bloom, if not neon than unknown in color, no manufactured dye making pink pop, just earnest & honest seed-contained code boring into your head holes. using the blue day of a sky for this, to roll over toes as an owner of bones, to stride so smooth & swallow too, in a bite of berry goes, a bit of biscuit down the throat. #Om #earthbodies #somatics “Your organism is a continuous patterning or activity of the whole cosmos. Each one of us is a very, very delightfully complex undulation of the entire universe. What this insight depends on is overcoming the illusion that space separates things. One has to realize that the space is an essential function of the things in the space.” —Alan Watts #alanwatts #weasorganism
Alongside grief comes joy, even if delayed. Months ago, I received a Pushcart nom for my nonfiction flash piece about Tom. Widowed Words is linked to my bio. Special thanks go to Emerge Literary Journal @elj_editions_ltd nonfiction editor Diane Gottlieb @dianegotauthor. * Heart-felt thanks to everyone holding me through these days. * #liveoutloud #justkeeplivin #cancersupport #writingdownthebones #lifewriting #flashnonfiction #cnf #creativenonfiction #cancercaregiver #premonition #liveyourlife #lovedones #writingaboutcancer #pushcartprize #delayedjoy #cancerspouse #cancersupport #brave #bekind #cancercommunity #remembertolove #dwgwriters #remembertobreathe #myhusband #lovejoy @womenwhosubmit
Writer's reference bundle! Paperbacks all in very good condition with clean texts throughout. ▪️$5 each or all for $20▪️ #booksforsale #booksale #bookstagram #reading #writing #writers #theartoffiction #aspectsoffiction #becomingawriter #writerstime #writingdownthebones #secondhandbooks #usedbooksforsale
#뼛속까지내려가서써라 #writingdownthebones #나탈리골드버그 최애 #책추남 님 북튜브를 듣다가 이 책 소개를 듣게 되었는데 듣는 순간 빨려 들어가서 결제까지 해버림 너무 재밌다🤪 글쓰기가 막 하고 싶어짐ㅎㅎ 글쓰기를 안해도 재밌게 읽을 수 있다^^ 4. 소아과의사가 진료카드 뒷면에 적은 짧은 시 아무 때나 아무 데나 쓰라는 가르침의 예시ㅎㅎ 좋은 의사선생님이구만? 이 책의 원본 초판은 1986년이고 40년 가까이 지난 지금까지도 베스트셀러를 유지하고 있다고 한다 #cat #catstagram #kitty #bestmeow #catlover #katzenliebe #katzen #집사스타그램 #냥스타그램 #캣스타그램 #식집사 #책스타그램 #bookstagram #책리뷰 #책장 #책읽기 #독서스타그램 #책추천 #플랜테리어 #고양이 #plant #planterior #식물 #식물스타그램
“We’re very hungry to figure out who we are,” writes author and zen person Natalie Goldberg. What’s truth? What’s lie? What’s solid? What’s illusion? It all IS. KNOWING. The shadow your body casts as you walk down a sunny street IS and you KNOW that. That’s all. Who we are IS the KNOWER. I know, it makes my head hurt, too. #nataliegoldberg #zenmind #writingdownthebones #is #theknower #oneminuteshrink #danadovitch Photo: Dana Dovitch
Noteworthy reading 😉 #writingdownthebones
{bloom & glow, healing as hell} it seems small, to reach out your hand & grasp a handle, pull from posterior, open a door. but it’s a magical action, to make space where there was none, to walk through a wall, like being able to change lanes when just one moment ago a car was there & you couldn’t. all things are happening at once, things are happening all at once, just as is the posterior chain, coming equipped with a rear delt & one that can fire, can contract, can ride alongside rhomboids & lean against lats, rip a door back. it has to happen like a wave, that’s what my Jiu Jitsu teacher used to say. it’s not stand then stop then grab then pull then lean then step, no, it’s stand stop grab pull lean step into it don’t over-control go with the flow. it may seem a small thing but it’s not, to own an arm & have a hand, to feel as if you inhabit airy space not reminded all the time of pain at every joint. do you know how much it takes to bend an elbow? it takes water, oh my God does it take water, and custom cushion fashioned for you, cartilaginously lavish nerve channels fit to the groove. then it takes everything else, from eyelashes in back out through the skin & on to the moon & the sun. and the hands you see at the end of everyone, they’ve been places, they’ve done stuff, they’ve made intricate things. without hands we couldn’t do anything. do you know how much it takes to bend an elbow? it takes the Big Bang. #Om #therationalanimal #pratītyasamutpāda #phenomenology #eatingleaves #thedoortothestore “When we wish to move our body about, we transport it as if by magic, since it is ours & because through it we have direct access to space.” —Maurice Merleau-Ponty “According to the Buddhist law of interdependent origination, nothing has independent, permanent, or absolute existence. Everything is part of a limitless web of interconnections & undergoes a continual process of transformation. Every appearance arises from complex causes & conditions, and in turn combines with others to produce countless effects.” —Francesca Fremantle
{the base of the vase} what is awe exactly & who’s these they that say it’ll only happen a few times in a life? how do you stat that, percentages per persons, and is the ratio spread out evenly in degrees of decades, do you get one amount of it about 15, 45 & at 70 or so? what if you die faster than that, does it get condensed compressed rebated to your age, here, here’s a little more, smiling child, obliviously ignorant you won’t be that long alive so here’s an extra helping of clouds on the side. clouds help & other than rain & shade that’s their essence as the essential thing is what makes it it, for example the blade of the knife & not the handle, and the essential element of clouds is that they help (because they beautify). but what about it, regardless of the years you get, what if it’s lopsided in slide & due to circumstances beyond cosmic control all your awe got tipped down the ramp at adolescence & that’s that, your allotted allowance, from here on out living is bland at best, a shade of beige, tepid in temp. or what other, what’s worse, they got tied up in cosmic bureaucracy, hands up shoulder shrug so sorry, sir, but yours won’t be delivered until the end is near, who is it out there that’s killed themselves before the blessings became fecund, if only they waited, could’ve made it, but who can blame them? to die of thirst is the worst. and maybe there are just some big ones, when a baby exits the legs & you’re the body bleeding, when a kiss fits or artistic vision descends in answer to urgent appeal (aka desperate begging) & also what awe exactly is is the language of ladies at the table beside talking in who knows what foreignness but still opening their mouths in love to each other, still imbued with the human quirk to touch the cup with tongue before lips & rim become one. what awe really is is what you let register & to that there is no end. #Om #śūnyatā #ashadeofbeige #essentialproperties #cloudshelp “Just live that life. Where you stand, where you are, that’s what your life is right there, regardless of how painful or how enjoyable it is. That’s what it is.” —Taizan Maezumi Roshi
{a costly correction} if questioning continued, if you ventured beyond the boundaries of the water top & asked what’s an intimate memory, a respected recollection from the previous past, the way conditions occurred, actions arranged, you may very well intersect the elements of a Duchenne smile, the genuine kind, energizing the eyes into crinkled littleness, or a softening across face as remembering runs through the nerves behind the bones, as memory melodies out of a mouth. if you asked yourself or someone else when were you happiest (when were you saddest) & granted the grace that the answer can be spoken in silence (as some things are too tender to tell, some stories take bravery to say), but also saved space for the opportunity (you never know maybe) that they might divulge some details & let you in on their life, that they might describe the night under a Minnesota moon they happened to a catch a lady turtle laying eggs with her own imbued brilliance digging her flicking feet into dirt to make them safe, letting you watch in permissiveness to an invasive illumination. but the phone’s white light & waxing crescent’s orange coat made an indelible impression in your mind & so that’s what you reply. or just what was rich about this day, listening to him recall listening to wind & feeling it for yourself, receiving the instructions that in combat training, anatomy matters & you have to envision femur, kidneys & ears, like in a line. the Buddha used this method, made it a method, not the attack strategy, but the introspection, remembering as a child lying underneath a tree & feeling peace to offset suffering. to steep in the feeling you have to let in its remembering, letting enjoyment get generated, letting it settle & saturate, pervade. #Om #thefirstjhāna #sukha #duchennesmile #accessconcentration #minnesotamoon #miksang “Through our attitudes, which are partly ideas, partly emotions, imagination, etc., we can allow changes in our experience.” —Glen A. Mazis #earthbodies
When you come across book by sheer luck.... thank you @nataliegoldberg4 for opening up my mind! Meditation and writing are a perfect combination my soul was looking for. I am craving this book! #writingdownthebones
BOOK GIVEAWAY! Miriam has too many books. She recently shipped three huge boxes of books across the US and discovered that she has been buying the same ones over and over throughout the years. Whoops. But this is good for you! Take a look and see if there’s something in here you’d like for your own personal library. She’ll ship anywhere in the US, but better yet if you’re in Seattle and wanna meet her at an event for the handoff. As a thank you, you can tell some people about how cool SCRiB LAB is, send us a donation, or buy Miriam a very fancy non-dairy latte the next time you see her. Here’s what she’s got: 🎭 PLAYS LIFE IS A DREAM, Pedro Calderón de la Barca (in English) WAITING FOR GODOT, Samuel Beckett KRAPP’s LAST TAPE, Samuel Beckett THE WEIR, Connor McPherson OUR TOWN, Thornton Wilder SHORT PLAYS, Caryl Churchill MNEMONIC, Complicite 💌 POETRY FOOTNOTES IN THE ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE, Fady Joudah GUESS CAN GALLOP, Heidi Lynn Staples 📝 ON WRITING & READING WRITING DOWN THE BONES, Natalie Goldberg (1986 ed) A SWIM IN THE POND IN THE RAIN, George Saunders (Miriam says: “best book ever”) #scriblab #scribbing #bookgiveaway #plays #poetry #swiminapondintherain #georgesaunders #writingdownthebones #samuelbeckett
Oh thank you Natalie Goldberg for your Writing Practice, WRITING DOWN THE BONES and all the lessons within. This particular one, the drive toward specificity, is one that serves me and my writing every single time I show up to the page. When we write we need to Be specific. Don't write "tree," write "Sycamore." Don't write "car," write "Cadillac." It's simple advice, but it is advice I need to be reminded of. Even when working with Natalie Goldberg during one of her retreats I remember complaining saying, "Oh! I forgot to be specific in this piece. I don't know why I keep doing that!" And she said that was fine, because simple knowing it was missing was already doing the work. Which it ends up is also very true because writing is rewriting, so if you don't remember the specifics in your drafts, you can carry this lesson into your revision to pack just as powerful a punch! It will bring your written worlds to life. Do you also see the hidden lesson here? While you walk in this world, pay attention to the specifics. Learn names, see details, PAY ATTENTION. You need all of that information for the next time you are writing! Do you already have a specialized knowledge in a certain category that you would not need to research to find specific names of things if you were writing about them? Let us know in the comments! #lessonlearned #lessonshared #100dayproject #stopwritingalone #writingpractice #writingdownthebones
I know...this diagram looks like it was created by a 5 year old. In fact, for a 5 year old, it’s pretty good! So yeah, thanks very much. I’ll let the 5 year old I employed to make this graphic know that they did a good job 😘. Anyways, let’s get to the point: the Writing Habit. It’s an incubator for Deep Creativity, but what does that mean? Basically I’ve found that creative unleashing demands of us a willingness to be very structured and disciplined while at once an openness ot completely let go of control. How’s that for a paradox? I think of these two aspects as a kind of creative polarity, almost akin to masculine and feminine energies. The masculine aspect requires consistency, structure, dedication. The feminine aspect requires flow, letting go, surrender, and openness to inspiration. The Writing Habit holds both these aspects as vital to the creative process, and is a living, breathing, community-co-created vehicle through which we — as individuals and a collective — can deepen our creative expression and unveil our gifts. We’ll work with principles and practices to support structure and discipline, while at once openning to the mysterious facets of creativity that can only be discovered through surrender and letting go. Reach out and let me know how this all lands for you, and if you’re ready to dive, join me for Cohort 4 of The Writing Habit (link’s in my bio!) @jamesclear #juliacameron #theartistsway #atomichabits #WritingWorkshop #CreativeWriting #WritersCommunity #WritersLife #AmWriting #WritingCommunity #Storytelling #CreativityWorkshop #InspireCreativity #WriteEveryDay #AuthorLife #WritingInspiration #CreativeProcess #WorkshopLife #ArtOfWriting #Wordsmith #WritingTips #ExpressYourself #CraftOfWriting #WriteOn @steven_pressfield #warofart #writingdownthebones #thecreativeact #rickrubin @rickrubin
{secret sauce, more wars} what do you want that you do not have is as piercing an inquiry as walking barefoot & intersecting a broken bougainvillea branch in the grass, denied from sight but not from skin & threatening a thorn to implant in. what do you want that you do not have is the kind of question that configures conversation into a friends-forever bout of bonding forged by the age-old equation of i’ll show you mine if you show me yours, the irrevocable formula of tradesies. what do you want that you do not have can be lifting a window to let in the light that shines on answers easy & pleasing to invite & not hide. and what do you want that you do not have can be cracking the door down the basement stairs where it’s ten shades darker & harder to feel your fingers into fumble bumps against admissions less sweetly lit. what do you want that you do not have might be a way you can sit behind your face changing with age having loved the yearning of years you’ve lived & learned in. what do you want that you don’t have will open with growth & open in irreparable separation, will sometimes mean you’ll forgo it to keep what you have while elsewise you’ll lose what you do to get what you don’t, what you hopefully want & not what you won’t. what do you want that you don’t have is intimately instructive, it’s what do you want that you can’t have you have to look out for, that question can start a war. #Om #dukkha #tanhā #tradesies #clingingcravingaversion #kazimierzdabrowski #overexcitabilities #theoryofpositivedisintegration
✍️ Come find your voice! We all have stories we yearn to tell or narratives we want to rewrite. Gathering in circles to share our stories dates back millennia and has traditionally been where healing and growth happen. 🌟 Join me for an hour of creative exploration and free-flowing expression! 📝✨ 🌿 Dive into the world of Free-Range Writing at my FREE workshop on March 12, from noon- 1 pm (PDT) via Zoom! 🕕 🌟 Unlock your imagination, tap into your inner voice, and let your thoughts roam freely as I guide you through this expressive writing journey. 🌈 🌈 Practice showing up in the world as your beautiful, badass, authentic, unvarnished, lovingly imperfect self. 🌟 🌟 Whether you're a seasoned writer or journal for pleasure, this workshop is for everyone! No experience necessary – just bring your curiosity and an open mind!.🌟 📝 I’ll introduce the practice, read a poem prompt, and guide you through a writing session. After, you’ll get a chance to share your writing with the group. (That’s where the real magic comes in.) 🌈 💌 Reserve your spot now – it's FREE! Simply DM me to secure your place, and I'll send you the registration link and details. Don't miss out on this opportunity to connect, create, and explore the power of your words! 🚀 And, if you enjoy the experience, consider joining an upcoming circle. New 8-week online women's writing circles begin March 20th. Attendees of this workshop will get priority registration. Learn more #FreeRangeWriting #ExpressiveWriting #WorkshopOnZoom #womenswritingworkshops #womenscircle #hearlingcircles #freewritingprompts #midlifewomen #CreativityUnleashed #WritingCommunity #UnlockYourPotential 🌟
* "It takes a while for our experience to sift through our consciousness. For instance, it is hard to write about being in love in the midst of a mad love affair. We have no perspective. All we can say is, 'I am madly in love,' over and over again. It is also hard to write about a city we just moved to; it is not yet in our body..." ~Natalie Goldberg * Arms of silver lace: the garments of a wild bride-- The Sea grows restless. ~Brighid Deval * * * Fatigued and yet elated like a bird, having landed in Mexico in late afternoon after a long day of meadering - car,, plane, bus, and a short hike up hill- to arrive where my Heart will soften for few days, I choose the Ocean as an inspiration for my first weaving. While being touched by Monsieur Soleil's long fingers, my intention is to offer a Haiku a day and a capture of Sayulita as I am reposing here AND... ...still attending my online Kundalini yoga classes!!! Writing is a practice. I miss weaving beautifully. Can I still stitch lines of great luminosity? I am uncertain at the moment. And so, stay kind as you read me. If you do read me. Into my Heart Natalie 💚 Photo: "Carte Postale: Salutations from Sayulita".Haiku number one. March 2/2024. #haikuwriting #haikupoetry #sayulita #mexico🇲🇽 #lifeispoetry #lifeisbeautiful #nataliegoldberg # #writingdownthebones
About to embark on rediscovering "Writing Down The Bones" by "Natalie Goldberg" #freeingthewritingwithin #writingdownthebones #nataliegoldberg #writingrediscovery #writing #writers Hello, my old friend. #milleniumgraduate
Where ever I go, pen & journal at the ready!…Been inspired years ago to write since reading Natalie Goldberg’s #WritingDowntheBones & Anne Lamott #BirdByBird, which I had a prolific poetry period all written in the convenience of a memo pad! Looking for a hobby? Start getting pen and paper and start writing down the bones✍🏻
Oh thank you Natalie Goldberg for your Writing Practice, WRITING DOWN THE BONES and all the lessons within. This particular one, the drive toward specificity, is one that serves me and my writing every single time I show up to the page. When we write we need to Be specific. Don't write "tree," write "Sycamore." Don't write "car," write "Cadillac." It's simple advice, but it is advice I need to be reminded of. Even when working with Natalie Goldberg during one of her retreats I remember complaining saying, "Oh! I forgot to be specific in this piece. I don't know why I keep doing that!" And she said that was fine, because simple knowing it was missing was already doing the work. Which it ends up is also very true because writing is rewriting, so if you don't remember the specifics in your drafts, you can carry this lesson into your revision to pack just as powerful a punch! It will bring your written worlds to life. Do you also see the hidden lesson here? While you walk in this world, pay attention to the specifics. Learn names, see details, PAY ATTENTION. You need all of that information for the next time you are writing! Do you already have a specialized knowledge in a certain category that you would not need to research to find specific names of things if you were writing about them? Let us know in the comments! #lessonlearned #lessonshared #100dayproject #stopwritingalone #writingpractice #writingdownthebones
{narrow area} there are only so many positions you can sleep in. while there are variations on the themes, it’s basically on your belly or your back or one of your halves. pillows may be shoved in some places with different levels of blankets, but we’re not resting head-down like bats & no matter what the phrase claims, even at our most fatigued we can’t sleep on our feet. it’s in one of these same positions that we’ll die. even if it happens standing, once there’s no more generated tension you’ll crumble quick, from up you’ll drop, south you’ll slump & there’s only so many positions you can die in. you’ll either be on your belly or your back or one or the other halves. supposedly the Buddha died lying on his side. it was going to have to be in some position. we can only do so many things. we can bend we can rise we can reach rotate expand & contract. i mean, we can do much more than that, and most basically though, just that— stand up, sit down, recline, curl, turn. someone once suggested to me that we have abandoned places on our body, in our body. we can only do so much, but what have you reduced yourself to? how haven’t you been in awhile? crouched in a twist turned open with one arm & eyes revolved up also? shapes can be exotic, but mostly they’re the everyday needs, the bending & extending. no matter how humble, there are only so many positions you can live in. #Om “What is enlightenment? It’s sleeping at night, moving around in the daytime, urinating, passing excrement, clouds moving, streams flowing, leaves falling, flowers scattering.” —Hakuin
{the immeasurable heaven, big yes} what could you even have called that color? rust? more cedar than salmon, but not entirely either, an iteration of burnt umber & chamomile cream. color looks different if it’s lit. in shadow, a shade its own way, in bright light, a new take. wood not the same as the twilight sky, when something like cinnamon rose glowed. it’s easy to see, but hard to concentrate, with headlights & signs that attract your eyes. how do you know to focus on what to you is important, to what you decide is worth your time? there’s more importance than in just one design. while driving you can’t opt for ethers over road & lines painted below demand more devotion than clouds colored above. and so you’re tasked to flick your attention fast at glances & glimpses against patterns of traffic, then back to the western left awash with whatever kind of color you’d call it beyond beautiful, what you could possibly come up with to lay claim to such saturated fade as if it would stay in a swath on a swatch called Day’s Remains. after scanning that traffic’s still at a stall on your side of the acceleration arrangement, land back for a breath at color you could probably get a sense of even if blind, let your eyes with their skill of sight lift a little bit above manmade attendings— as important as it is, the intersection, the engines— absorb the effects, the energetics, of a color so organic no known reproduction can match it, whatever was that enchanted accident of backlit burgundy intermixed with mauve. do you know how to return your resonance when but just a minimal interval is left as an opportunity to do so, as the red light goes green & with it you go too? #Om #laniakea #chamomilecream
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