As you reread, circle whole sections that are good in your notebooks. They often glow off the page and are… — Natalie Goldberg
As you reread, circle whole sections that are good in your notebooks. They often glow off the page and are obvious. […]
Naturally, there should be a place for editing and revision, but when we hear the word editor, we think, "Okay. I let the creator in me go wild, but now I'm going to get back to the proper, conventional, rational state of mind and finally get things in order." We bring out the man or woman in a tweed suit from the East Coast with a doctorate in literature who is critical of everything. Don't do that. That person in the tweed suit is just another disguise for the ego that is trying to get control of things any way it can. […] Instead, when you go over your work, become a Samurai, a great warrior with the courage to cut out anything that is not present.
p. 174Source: Wikiquote · CC BY-SA 4.0
More from this book
What is important is not just what you do - "I am writing a book" - but how you do it, how you approach it, and what you come to value.
[…] There are many realities. We should remember this when we get too caught in being concerned about the way the rest of the world lives or how we think they live.
p. 127
We give a lot of names to our excuses, to the reasons we don't want to write or we're afraid to. Finally, if you want to write, you have to just shut up, pick up a pen, and do it. I'm sorry there are no true excuses. Shut up and write.
[…] It's pretty nice to be talented. If you are, enjoy, but it won't take you that far. Work takes you a lot further.
[…] In writing I have confidence. Because I say I'm going to do it and I do it. That's all. Writing is the one thing in my life I continually show up for. I have given 100 percent to writing practice. That's what builds confidence.
[…] Don't be tossed away by your monkey mind. … These little voices are constantly going to be nagging at us. If you make a decision to do something, you do it. Don't be tossed away. … Don't be thrown off by yourself or anyone else. Let your big mind move forward.
p. 183
Push yourself beyond when you think you are done with what you have to say. […] It is beyond the point when you think you are done that often something strong comes out.
p. 112
