'Wild Mind' by Natalie Goldberg – Book Review

Jun 18, 2011
Susannah White

Writing Practice - Steven White

'Wild Mind' by Natalie Goldberg is a book about 'living the writer's life. It includes a series of techniques that will help improve your writing.

Natalie Goldberg is well known for the book Writing Down the Bones, which introduces her approach to writing. In Wild Mind she demonstrates specific methods and techniques to assist writers with their work.

Writing Truthfully

Goldberg suggests that writers are often overly critical of their own work. She thinks that this is partly because of their education. At school, many good students try too hard to please their teachers.

When Goldberg was a child she was asked to write about her summer vacation. She wanted to impress her teacher so she did not admit that her father sat around, in his underpants, drinking beer. As an adult she realises that, in trying to make a good impression, she made her writing lifeless and dull. In Wild Mind Goldberg encourages her readers, as adult writers, to dare to write about the truth.

Writing Practice

Wild Mind refers to what is raw and real before it has been polished and refined. Goldberg is talking about first drafts and emerging ideas. She suggests that regular, timed writing practice can be a useful tool for all writers. In order to achieve this, she explains that you should try to write for a set period of time, each day. You can do this by selecting a topic, such as a memory, and then simply writing about it by keeping your hand moving until you are able to lose control and say what you want to say. You could also use this time to record your thoughts, as they arise.

She states, 'don't worry if it's correct, polite, appropriate. Just let it rip.' You are not allowed to go back and change anything that you have written, until a later date. Stopping the writing process to make corrections can break your train of thought. Issues like spelling and grammar should also be forgotten at this first stage. The main point of the practice is to write quickly and fluently about your memory, thoughts or chosen topic. In this way you can 'go for the jugular' and express ideas without having to worry about anything else.

Editing Your Writing

In Wild Mind Goldberg explains that all writers need to have both a 'sweetheart' and a 'censor' within them. When you are doing your writing practice aim to put the censor aside whilst you encourage yourself using a loving, sweetheart's voice. The aim of the practice is simply to keep going.

Once you have created a body of work then, if you wish, the censor can act as an editor and make improvements. Your chosen topic or memory could then be used as part of a piece of fiction. Goldberg herself wrote a novel based on a series of ideas which arose during her writing practice.

Writing As a Spiritual Practice

Goldberg also likes to use her timed writing as a spiritual practice. She is a Buddhist and so she is aware that Zen Buddhists sometimes sit and stare at a blank wall so that they can watch their thoughts. She suggests that you, as a writer, can sit with a blank page and do the same. Using work as a spiritual practice is important to Natalie Goldberg because of her interest in Zen techniques.

Another practice suggested by Goldberg involves simply observing what is happening around her. She often goes to cafes, orders a cup of coffee and then uses her writing to describe the surroundings. This practice helps with her fiction writing because it enables her to record specific details from a location. On the spiritual level, observing the 'here and now' is another Buddhist concept since it allows a writer to stay 'in the moment'. More details of her spiritual ideals can be read in her book Long, Quiet Highway.

Living the Writer's Life

Wild Mind is a helpful book for all writers because it contains a series of activities and ideas, which encourage the development of truthful, vivid writing. If you are interested in developing your spiritual life then it has much to offer at that level too.