Books on writing

 I read books about writing. At some point, you’d think a person would stop. 

Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones told me why I keep reading. She says writers — even old, experienced ones — have to come at their work with a “beginner’s mind,” an open mind, the mind of a new student.

You might detect a hint of Zen there. Goldberg’s book grew out of her practice of Zen. One day, her teacher asked her why she came to the Zen center to do sitting practice. Why don’t you make writing your practice? he asked.

Goldberg thinks of writing as a practice. I do too, but while she speaks of the practice of Zen, I think of the practice of running or weight training or playing a musical instrument. Her different perspective allowed me to see some things in new light, the light of a new student.

• Source: Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones; Boulder: Shambhala, 2016. She teaches writing at the Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, N.M.