Natalie Goldberg Quotes about Running

This is the practice school of writing. Like running, the more you do it, the better you get at it. Some days you don't want to run and you resist every step of the three miles, but you do it anyway. You practice

This is the practice school of writing. Like running, the more you do it, the better you get at it. Some days you don't want to run and you resist every step of the three miles, but you do it anyway. You practice whether you want to or not. You don't wait around for inspiration and a deep desire to run ... That's how writing is too ... One of the main aims in writing practice is to learn to trust your own mind and body; to grow patient and nonaggressive.

Natalie Goldberg

Running, Inspiration, Writing

Natalie Goldberg (2016). “Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within”, p.14, Shambhala Publications

Actually, when I look at my old notebooks, I think I have been a bit self-indulgent and have given myself too much time to meander in my discursive thoughts. I could have cut through sooner. Yet it is good to know about our terrible selves, not laud or criticize them, just acknowledge them. Then, out of this knowledge, we are better equipped to make a choice for beauty, kind consideration and clear truth. We make this choice with our feet firmly on the ground. We are not running wildly after beauty with fear at our backs.

Natalie Goldberg

Notebook, Running, Cutting

Natalie Goldberg (2016). “Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within”, p.23, Shambhala Publications

We have to look at our own inertia, insecurities, self-hate, fear that, in truth, we have nothing valuable to say. When your writing blooms out of the back of this garbage compost, it is very stable. You are not running from anything. You can have a sense of artistic security. If you are not afraid of the voices inside you, you will not fear the critics outside you.

Natalie Goldberg

Running, Hate, Writing

In a way, the cancer became an ally because it stopped me from running around so much. I was able to settle down and write things I hadn't had a chance to before.

Natalie Goldberg

Running, Cancer, Writing

"The Writing Life". Interview with Mark Matousek, www.psychologytoday.com. July 19, 2016.