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Nobody cares much whether you write or not. You just have to do it

Natalie Goldberg

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Natalie Goldberg
Age: 76
Born: 1948
Born: January 4
Author
Novelist
Writer
Brooklyn
New York
Nobody
Whether
Write
Care
Writing
Much
Cares

More quotes by Natalie Goldberg

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We never graduate from first grade. Over and over, we have to go back to the beginning.
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Actually, every time we begin, we wonder how we did it before, Each time is a new journey with no maps.
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Literature gives us the great gift of the present moment.
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I consider writing practice a true Zen practice because it all comes back at you. You can't fool anyone because it's on the page.
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It is odd that we never question the feasibility of a football team practicing long hours for one game yet in writing we rarely give ourselves the space for practice.
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After you have finished a piece of work, the work is then none of your business. Go on and do something else.
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Kill the idea of the lone, suffering artist. Don't make it any harder on yourself.
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To encounter a fine book and have time to read it is a wonderful thing.
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So writing is not just writing. It is also having a relationship with other writers. And don't be jealous, especially secretly. That's the worst kind. If someone writes something great, it's just more clarity in the world for all of us.
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Play around. Dive into absurdity and write. Take chances. You will succeed if you are fearless of failure.
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We have to accept ourselves in order to write. Now none of us does that fully: few of us do it even halfway. Don’t wait for one hundred percent acceptance of yourself before you write, or even eight percent acceptance. Just write. The process of writing is an activity that teaches us about acceptance.
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When you are present, the world is truly alive.
Natalie Goldberg
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Sometimes when you think you are done, it is just the edge of beginning. Probably that's why we decide we're done. It's getting too scary. We are touching down onto something real. It is beyond the point when you think you are done that often something strong comes out.
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We should notice that we are already supported at every moment. There is the earth below our feet and there is the air, filling our lungs and emptying them. We should begin from this when we need support.
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Choose your tools carefully, but not so carefully that you get uptight or spend more time at the stationery store than at your writing table.
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Shut up and write. Don't talk about writing, just physically do it.
Natalie Goldberg
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Women need space and silence. We too quickly give away our energy. There's something about holding that richness.
Natalie Goldberg
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Finally, one just has to shut up, sit down, and write.
Natalie Goldberg
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Even an ice cream parlor - a definite advantage - does not alleviate the sorrow I feel for a town lacking a bookstore.
Natalie Goldberg
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The things that make you a functional citizen in society - manners, discretion, cordiality - don't necessarily make you a good writer. Writing needs raw truth, wants your suffering and darkness on the table, revels in a cutting mind that takes no prisoners.
Natalie Goldberg