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Summary: The Beginning of an End . . .
Review: . . .is the best way to use and enjoy "Wild Mind." Nat, (I don't think she'd mind if a reader called her 'Nat') calling on the obvious strengths she made evident in Writing Down the Bones, takes her listening partner from light to dark, sun to shadow and raises us one step above our Best. Faulkner said you must face fear and then forget it, if one's to write about the 'invisible stuff,' which is All that matters. Red Smith said, "Writing is easy, all you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein." Nat "bleeds out" in this one. She not only helped me be a better writer, she churned my soul toward helping me become a better man. Go Blue! MR
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Summary: A Practical Manual for real people
Review: A lot of writing books are so precious and ethereal you want to bash them against the wall. This is the first one I've read with real meat on its bones. Goldberg addresses the common insecurities writers face with compassion and a wonderful matter-of-factness I found really refreshing and helpful. Not all of us are named "Annie" and have our own private island on which to write! Natalie Goldberg knows this, and she knows a lot of us struggle with an Inner Editor, the constant critic who sneers, "This sucks! Just pack it in." She suggests real techniques to overcome insecurities and blocks, but more importantly, she gives the reader permission to write the way he already writes, without a backward glance at the way he "ought" to do it. Very highly recommended!
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Summary: Just Right & Just Write
Review: A pair of Writing down the bone and Wild Mind is very good for who begin to write. From poetry to prose Just write !
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Summary: Fine book with true confessions.
Review: A very fine companion to Writing Down the Bones, with some personal material that seems to upset certain reviewers down below. If Natalie had talked about a marriage for example, these reviewers wouldn't have even noticed. Those reviews say more about their own prejudices than about Natalie. Meanwhile, the bits of wisdom for life and art make Natalie the best and most valuable writing teacher in the country.
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Summary: Interesting read but not really a "how to write" book
Review: After reading it twice, I think this book contains both positive and negative aspects. Basically, I've come to the conclusion that it's not a book on how to write. Instead, I view it as a memoir by a person with a more-or-less interesting life. At times, it makes for fascinating reading; other times, the stories and anecdotes fall really flat. The writing advice itself is sparse though there are several decent exercises to cure writers' block. Goldberg is a remarkable writer who has wisdom and wit, but I expected more actual writing *technique* from this book and was therefore disappointed. By the way, I pity the narrow-minded reviewers who bash her for writing about her relationships with women. I've read plenty of books by heterosexual authors who constantly mention their spouses, and I don't see readers accusing them of throwing it in their faces.
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Summary: Let your Wild Mind Run Free
Review: Another great book about writing for those who are just starting to write or those who feel their creative reservoir approaching drought. Natalie Goldberg continues to combine her Zen approach and casual style in these short and easily digestible essays, each with its own suggested exercise for getting your wild mind to flow as fast as your wild hand and pen can keep pace. I used this book as the foundation for a local writing group which has helped some new writers 'bloom like a lotus'. It is the recipe for living the writer's life and it has flavorfully seasoned a few veteran writers and also kept the group's creative river flowing freely and unobstructed.
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Summary: Woolly, impractical new age rubbish!
Review: Believe it or not, this offence to trees was touted to me as a textbook for my creative writing course! Woolly new-age thinking coupled with profound-sounding but essentially meaningless pronouncements predominate, along with what must be the worse piece of advice a new writer ever had - Lose Control. Honestly, dear, if we all lost control when we wrote we'd write this superannuated hippy crap as well. Writing is a craft and should be an exercise IN control. Useless as spirituality (not nearly severe enough), useless as gay memoir (but I'm happy she found love. Kudos). Doubly, in fact triply useless as a guide to beginning writing. Avoid at all costs. Advice to other beginning writers - get a better, more useful book on our craft, which limits you in scope to anything not by this whiny new-ager. Wish I could rate this in minus numbers.
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Summary: Awful
Review: Goldberg's publisher did her no favor by letting this garbage slip into print. I'm sure her credibility took a swan dive when "Wild Mind" came out. In one of the last chapters of the book, she wrote of speaking to her editor and proclaiming her Zen philosophy of writing: "It's okay if this book is a failure." By that measure, this book is supremely "okay." By the way, Nat, being straight, white, and male doesn't necessarily make one a "redneck." Your intolerance is showing. So much for your philosophy.
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Summary: Her book helped me become a more successful author.
Review: I absolutely love this book. In fact, I owe a lot of my own success and joy to reading it. Natalie's book encouraged me to write a book of my own in my field of specialization as a healer of plants, animals, and people. I highly encourage anybody who is interested in following their dreams to read Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life. It is a wonderful book filled with magic and it can help you become the writer, artist, or dreamer that you've always felt called to be. Read this book. It can change your life. It certainly has for me!
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Summary: A must for any writer!
Review: I don't think Natalie Goldberg could possibly top Writing Down the Bones, but this book is almost as good. Definitely a must for anyone who loved Bones.
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