“A-list” writers strive to write the next masterpiece. We want the perfect headline, lead, or call-to-action, etc. Often, writers (myself included) approach writing with a ‘poverty mindset’ by running to instructors to learn the hard skills of ‘how to write.’ The goal is to become a better writer.
Best-selling author Natalie Goldberg says it’s not our fault for having this approach. This is the way many of us learned how to write — by learning hard skills and analyzing others’ writings to gain ‘meaning.’
But Goldberg is critical of this method when it’s the only thing we use to improve our writing — for two interconnected reasons.
First, looking to others to learn or talk about a piece of writing takes us ‘outside ourselves,’ away from our original minds and emotions.
Second, Goldberg advocates that the best way to improve in doing anything, especially writing, is just by doing it and not by talking or reading about it. “Write when you write.”
Goldberg’s unique Zen-based philosophy on becoming a better writer is fully revealed in her 1986 classic, Writing Down the Bones, Freeing the Writer Within.
One Comment
I like that, – write when you write – it is a challenging practice because we are afraid we will forget to go and correct the wrongs. But at the same time, it allows you to empty your mind onto the paper while the info is present.