Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir by Natalie Goldberg. Free Press. 309 pages
Books on writing fall into two broad categories: how-to and inspirational. Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones is solidly in the latter tradition, and I suppose so is Old Friend From Far Away. Yet Old Friend is ultimately highly practical, for it captures the spirit of writing and the essence of memoir. I think I tend to be kind of . . . straight-ahead, directed, event-driven in my writing approach, and this book underscores how important it can be to slow down, explore memories, and discover subject, theme, and narrative thread. Her freewriting methods (basically bursts of timed writing to discover subject or to pile up pages once one’s subject is found) seem great at getting beneath the chattering “monkey mind” (which Goldberg says is also highly and destructively critical) to tap what we really experienced and how we felt and feel.
In Old Friend—that person we were—Goldberg manages to blend the essence of good writing—tactile, visual, specific, quirky—with related Zen principles and a theme of human mortality. In this she conveys that writing is, or can be, a path, a spiritual path, a way of being in the world, a way to grow and to reach out. I can see why she’s so popular as a teacher, for she empowers. What she’s saying over and over is anyone can be a writer, an artist, which is true! Talent is common, actually. Just do it. This is an antidote to the feeling that one must have big Certified Success or why bother? How common but how narrow and narcissistic.
Writing can be part of being alive and a way to be more alive. Her way, that of the artist rather than someone who has a recipe for writing a bestseller, may seem somewhat artsy and touchy-feely to some (and as a guy who can be kinda macho I tend to resist) but Old Friend has a core of steel in it: spirituality, craft, and artistic determination. She’s obviously an artist herself, someone who tries to see and who tells the truth, and she tries to nurture and encourage and empower that part of others. Her approach to writing is intuitive rather than linear. As a linear guy, I needed Old Friend from Far Away a lot sooner than I got it. But perhaps it’s simply true that the teacher you need appears when you need her.
It took me two reads to see what Goldberg was talking about in Writing Down the Bones. At first I was resistant because at points it has a touchy-feelie tone, but on the second reading I began to catch on. I wrote through several of the writing prompts and did see several recurring themes. I still have trouble with unrestrained free writing — I guess my “monkey mind” is still very dominant.
Goldberg is a good teacher, though. And Old Friend from From Away sounds valuable.
Have you ever read Robert Olen Butler’s From Where You Dream? He seems to be promoting a similar frame of mind as Goldberg, although I think he would discourage free writing; he seems to promote going so deep into the consciousness that a story arises almost fully formed with very little revision. He demonstrates his method on a video course. It’s a fascinating look into the creative process, but at the same time seems a little intimidating.
Thanks for the tip on Butler, Todd. I will look into his book and see if I can find a link for his course.
I enjoyed Goldberg’s Writing the Bones, I have the new one but have yet to start it. Your comments are urging me to do so. thanks…
Thanks, Walker. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have . . .
I have this one on my list as well. I count Writing Down the Bones as one of the few writing books that inspires and teaches without being too preachy or obvious. Your review makes me want to run out and pick this next one up!
Thanks, Elizabeth. I liked Bones, too, but for some reason this one hit me harder. I think it was my mindset, actually, and that it has so much to do specifically with memoir.
Old Friend From Far Away is one that comes back off my shelf frequently — and I highly recommend Butler’s book, too (just recently finished it). I would go so far as to say it was a “breakthrough” book for me, and helped fill in an important link that I had not quite been willing to trust.
That does it—I’m ordering Butler’s book. Thanks, Beth.