Today’s prompt from the Ultimate Blogging Challenge is to talk about trainings that I’ve taken to help me in my craft, or to talk about trainings that I would like to take.
For me, my best writing training didn’t come in a classroom, but in a book. The book is titled “Writing Down the Bones,” and the author’s name is Natalie Goldberg. A big goal that the author had in writing this book was to help people who wanted to write to conquer the dreaded writer’s block. Her book is both entertaining, informative, and practical. Natalie, a teacher who has helped high school students get past their own writer’s block, shares some very fun exercises in her book. Natalie writes about her experiences as a substitute teacher with humor and love. She is pure delight and her exercises are very effective.
Since publishing “Writing Down the Bones” in 1986, Natalie has written a variety of guides for writing, including “Wild Mind” (1990), “Thunder and Lightning” (2000), “Old Friend from Far Away” (2007), and “Writing on Empty” (2024).
Natalie Goldberg occasionally offers workshops via Zoom. She does have a website, but it hasn’t been updated in a while. You can find it at https://nataliegoldberg.com/
You can also find some fun writing execises that are based on Natalie’s techniques at:
Enjoy! Tomorrow, I will demonstrate one of those prompts here, so stay tuned!
