![\"The](\"http:\/\/stephaniegolden.net\/writing_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/buddha-new-color-300x300.jpg\" "\\"buddha")
My practice of insight meditation shapes my thinking about writing as a practice. In meditation, you train your mind to stay focused by systematically returning over and over to your breath. You need instruction to learn how to do this. There is an art to choosing the particular technique (out of many) that is appropriate to a given moment.<\/p>\n
Natalie Goldberg in her classic book Writing Down the Bones<\/em> talks about writing as a practice, but she\u2019s referring to a specific exercise: you don\u2019t censor yourself or make corrections but just keep your hand going across the page, in order to \u201cburn down\u201d to what she calls \u201cfirst thoughts\u201d or authentic feeling and experience. The goal is to break through the inner censor that often prevents people from accessing the truths of their experience. I had a writing teacher who taught another great exercise that had a similar effect.<\/p>\n But what I mean by practice is something different: the honing of skill, and the ability to meet the contingencies of professional writing, where you make your deadlines whatever the condition of your psyche.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve been a freelancer since 1984, and people still say to me, \u201cHow do you have the discipline? I could never do what you do.\u201d I always respond that when your livelihood depends on it, you develop the discipline.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s just because I don\u2019t feel like doing a lot of explaining. The fact is that the discipline comes from the practice. The practice is to do it even when you don\u2019t feel like it, you\u2019re too tired, you\u2019re bored, you\u2019re not really sure you know what you\u2019re doing, you\u2019re afraid that you can\u2019t produce what the editor wants\u2026 and so on.<\/p>\n One friend had to publish a scholarly article as part of the requirements for his job contract renewal. He knew exactly what to say, but got sucked into a swamp of anxiety at the prospect of actual writing. He assumed this meant he couldn\u2019t write, gave up for the day and started answering email. He had the wrong idea: you may be anxious, but you do it anyway.<\/p>\n Years of slogging through the trenches this way is what develops skill. Suddenly you\u2019re a Jill of all trades: whatever it is, you can handle it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I practice yoga, and I practice meditation. And I also \u201cpractice\u201d writing. I like this concept, because it connects skill and inspiration. I\u2019ll begin with skill. One authority defines practice as \u201csystematic training by multiple repetitions.\u201d Other sources emphasize frequency, skill, instruction, discipline, and \u201cartful management.\u201d (Here is a thought-provoking collection of definitions.) My practice of insight meditation shapes my thinking about writing as a practice. In meditation, you train your mind to stay focused by systematically returning over and over to your breath. You need instruction to learn how to do this. There is an art to choosing the[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,22,8,4],"tags":[29,16,15],"class_list":["post-114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddhism","category-inspiration","category-meditation","category-writing","tag-freelance-writing","tag-natalie-goldberg","tag-practice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stephaniegolden.net\/writing_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stephaniegolden.net\/writing_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stephaniegolden.net\/writing_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stephaniegolden.net\/writing_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stephaniegolden.net\/writing_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/stephaniegolden.net\/writing_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":185,"href":"http:\/\/stephaniegolden.net\/writing_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions\/185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stephaniegolden.net\/writing_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stephaniegolden.net\/writing_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stephaniegolden.net\/writing_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}