The Bookshelf: “Writing on Empty”

Arts Natalie Goldberg’s new book finds structure in emptiness Our next guest needs no introduction—if you’re a writer or reader in Santa Fe, I’m willing to bet you’re already familiar with Natalie Goldberg and her 1986 classic, Writing Down the Bones . What you might not know, though? She’s got a new book coming out this month. Writing On Empty (July 9, St. Martin’s Essentials) looks back on the creative paralysis that seized Goldberg at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when lockdowns and isolation left her wellspring of inspiration dry. It examines how she found her own way out of that torpor, and offers a roadmap for other writers to do the same. Writing Down the Bones emphasizes the importance of a dedicated writing practice, and the methods she writes about worked for Goldberg herself for decades. But when the onset of the pandemic tore away the structure of everyday life and exposed the dysfunction of larger societal structures, Goldberg was left to reckon with what structure really means in a creative practice. During lockdown, none of the writers, poets, painters or musicians in Goldberg’s circle could create, and she was no different. “It was like everything I knew was out the window,”Goldberg tells SFR, “and I had to start from zero to find my way again.” Feeling stifled by the closure of the cafés and libraries she had relied upon in which to write, Goldberg clung to whatever structure she could find, meeting weekly with a friend at the Water History Park on Upper Canyon Road to talk about their lives and childhoods. But when her friend suffered a serious bike accident, even that vestige was gone. Left reeling, Goldberg knew she needed to make a change and decided to follow through on a residency in Port Townsend, Washington, where she’d been invited before the pandemic began. There, she’d be given a cabin to live and write in—even though she no longer felt like a writer and had no idea what she would be writing. She and her girlfriend decided to drive to Port Townsend rather than […]

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