Thunder and Lightning: Cracking Open the Writer's Craft

by Natalie Goldberg

Book Overview

In this long-awaited sequel to her bestselling books Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind , Natalie Goldberg, one of the most sought-after writing teachers of our time, takes us to the next step in the writing process. You've filled your notebooks, done your writing practice, discovered your original voice. Now what? How do you turn this raw material into finished stories, essays, poems, novels, memoirs? Drawing on her own experience as a writer and...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553374966
• ISBN13: 9780553374964
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: Bantam Dell
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.5" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

worth a second reading

I hear a lot of negative things about this book; mostly that it's not as good as her first two on writing. But I think it's just as strong--it just needs to be read from a certain perspective. Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind are wonderful books, especially for the beginning writer, who needs lots of exercises to get started. But I think it's equally wonderful to read Thunder & Lightning and see how Natalie Goldberg's thoughts on writing are changing as she grows as a writer. I read this book when it first came out, and I didn't really understand what she was trying to say. Recently I read it again and I understood perfectly her thoughts on writing within a structure and persevering despite the fears that writers come up against over and over, even after years of good writing. Don't be too quick to dismiss this book.

Struck by "Lightning."

In this book, Natalie Goldberg shares her insights into how we can explore our "interior territory" through the practice of reading and writing mindfully. Although she begins her book with an introductory "Warning" to aspiring writers, and then ends with her reflections on Allen Ginsberg's death, Goldberg's book is neither discouraging nor depressing. "Do not say you were not warned," she cautions. "To continue this crazy thing called writing might lead to steep precipices, dangerous canyons, craggy cliffs. I make no promises" (p. 7). Goldberg makes "the writer's craft" sound downright exciting!Goldberg equates writing with mindfulness training. Writing, like meditation, is a "place where we can meet ourselves deeply," allowing us to "encounter the imprint of something immense running through us" (p. 43). In other words, writing is a serious practice. A writer's path, Goldberg tells us, "includes concentration, slowing down, commitment, awareness, loneliness, faith, a breakdown of ordinary perceptions--the same qualities attributed to monks or Zen masters" (p. 44). Goldberg sees writing as "a true spiritual path, an authentic Zen way. Writing is an immediate mirror: it reflects back to you. You can't fool anyone, especially yourself. Here you're the doer and the done, the worldly person and the monk" (p. 218).Similarly, the practice of reading mindfully allows us to "wake up to everything about a book . . . it will become alive and take flight" (p. 95). Certainly, you will experience such moments throughout Goldberg's book. It is rich with anecdotes. For instance, she tells us that after reading Wallace Stegner's CROSSING TO SAFETY, she walked around the streets of Taos astonished for "three sizzling summer months" (p. 47). Goldberg confesses to reading books during a Thich Nhat Hanh meditation retreat, explaining "I couldn't get my head out of this novel" (p. 147). While on a Mill Valley writing retreat, she recalls hearing the moon through the redwoods telling her, "Enough is enough. I needed to see what was out in the world beyond writing" (pp. 210-11).For me, this book was not a disappointment written by some negative Natalie. Lightning does not strike the same place twice, and this book is not intended to revisit the same old "Bones" of Goldberg's 1996 book. Whether you are an aspiring writer, an avid reader, or interested in living your life mindfully, I encourage you to experience all the thunder and lightning this book has to offer.G. Merritt

Inspirational

It took me a bit to connect with this book because the tone and style are so different from Natalie's previous books. I also found I had to read this a little bit at a time to give myself time to absorb what she was trying to say. But I was really shaken up by the book. After writing a terrible, terrible truly horrible and horribly boring novel myself, I had given up writing (after 35 years). In other words, I was in a similar place as Natalie was in the closing chapter of this book. How she dealt with that and what she relates about that are extraordinary and absolutely inspirational. It got me to pick up a pen again.Natalie has always had a Zen slant to her writing and it is even more evident here. The connection between the disciplines of writing practice and meditation really struck home with me. Especially as it addresses the ultimate point of writing. While this book does deal with issues of structure (and I disagree strongly that this book is just for prose writers), it addresses more the spiritual and personal nature of writing. Why write? it dares us to ask. Why write at all? As usual, Natalie is challenging our basic beliefs of ourselves and particulary ourselves as writers. Why do *you* write? This book will inspire you to seek the answer to that fearsome question for yourself. I am indebted to Natalie for constantly opening herself up to an unknown and naturally critical audience. She does sound older and wiser here and that gives me pause too. It goes back to the fundemental question -- why write? This is not a writing instruction book per se, you can visit her previous books for help in that area. This book is something beyond that. Something almost intangible. I was deeply moved by the book and tremendously inspired. Thank you Natalie for giving so fully yet once again.