It is very painful to become frozen with your poems, to gain too much recognition for a certain set of poems. The real life is in writing, not in reading the same ones over and over again for years. We constantly need new insights, visions. We don't exist in any solid form. There is no permanent truth that you can corner in a poem that will satisfy you forever. Don't identify too strongly with your work. Stay fluid behind those black-and-white words. They are not you. They were a great moment going through you. A moment you were awake enough to write down and capture.
— Natalie Goldberg, from Writing Down the Bones
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
“The real life is in writing”
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2 comments:
she has an excellent point. but i have to disagree with the post title alone taken as a solid statement. perhaps the real life is in living :)
Hi Abby!
I agree with you. In this quote, Goldberg is talking about writers getting too attached to their finished work, when the point of writing is in participating in the process. It's a Zen attitude, I think, one that focuses on being completely absorbed in the process and not minding the output. Hence, the "real life" of the writer is the writing itself, not the finished product.
It's an idea I'm still wrapping my head around.
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