The True Secret of Writing:
Connecting Life with Language
Author: Natalie Goldberg
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: March 19, 2013
Imagine having a teacher whom you very much admire--say, a theatre instructor or an art history professor--and you have nothing but fond memories of her. But then you go back to your old school years later only to realize that she's a blithering old hippy dippy whose great insights are all about "vibes" and "vapors."
That's how I felt reading Natalie Goldberg's latest book.
Oh, Natalie Goldberg. It's so hard for me to criticize her, since I spent much of my twenties valuing her insights on writing and applying them in my own writing and in various writing workshops I ran. Well, sort of. I liked her books but I may have overestimated my admiration for her because I was constantly confusing her with Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge, author of my hands-down favourite book of writing instruction of all time, poemcrazy. Still, I thought of Natalie Goldberg warmly, as one who wrote fairly helpful books about writing (if not many books about anything else).
And then I read The True Secret of Writing. Sigh.
That's how I felt reading Natalie Goldberg's latest book.
Oh, Natalie Goldberg. It's so hard for me to criticize her, since I spent much of my twenties valuing her insights on writing and applying them in my own writing and in various writing workshops I ran. Well, sort of. I liked her books but I may have overestimated my admiration for her because I was constantly confusing her with Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge, author of my hands-down favourite book of writing instruction of all time, poemcrazy. Still, I thought of Natalie Goldberg warmly, as one who wrote fairly helpful books about writing (if not many books about anything else).
And then I read The True Secret of Writing. Sigh.
