![Preview of Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/410p7Jqg0nL.jpg)
updated 21h ago
updated 21h ago
“Beginner’s mind, pen and paper.” From there, it’s time to push off from the shore. “Keep your hand moving,” she commands. “Don’t cross out, don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, and grammar; lose control, don’t think, don’t get logical, go for the jugular.” In other words, take the plunge.
Robin Harford added 3mo ago
“Why do you come to sit meditation? Why don’t you make writing your practice? If you go deep enough in writing, it will take you everyplace.”
Robin Harford added 3mo ago
Writing is egalitarian; it cuts across geographic, class, gender, and racial lines.
Robin Harford added 3mo ago
“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—and writing.”
Robin Harford added 3mo ago
We walk through so many myths of each other and ourselves; we are so thankful when someone sees us for who we are and accepts us.
réka added 2mo ago
Writing practice embraces your whole life and doesn’t demand any logical form: no chapter 19 following the action in chapter 18. It’s a place that you can come to wild and unbridled, mixing the dream of your grandmother’s soup with the astounding clouds outside your window. It is undirected and has to do with all of you right in your present moment
... See moreréka added 2mo ago
I know most of my writing friends are obsessed with writing. It works in the same way as chocolate does. We’re always thinking we should be writing no matter what else we might be doing. It’s not fun. The life of an artist isn’t easy. You’re never free unless you are doing your art.
réka added 2mo ago
Keep your hand moving. (Don’t pause to reread the line you have just written. That’s stalling and trying to get control of what you’re saying.) Don’t cross out. (That is editing as you write. Even if you write something you didn’t mean to write, leave it.) Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, grammar. (Don’t even care about staying within the m
... See moreRobin Harford added 3mo ago
In Zen meditation you sit on a cushion called a zafu with your legs crossed, back straight, hands at your knees or in front of you in a gesture called a mudra. You face a white wall and watch your breath. No matter what you feel—great tornadoes of anger and resistance, thunderstorms of joy and grief—you continue to sit, back straight, legs crossed,
... See moreRobin Harford added 3mo ago