Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Jack Kerouac and advice on writing



Faithful Daily Beat readers are already familiar with Jack Kerouac's advice on writing, taking the form of two essays published in Evergreen Review: "Essentials of Spontaneous Prose" (Summer 1958) and "Belief and Technique for Modern Prose" (Spring 1959). Both of these are available in print in You're a Genius All the Time (Chronicle Books, 2009) with a foreword by Regina Weinreich.

I've read several books on writing by other authors, one of which is by Natalie Goldberg: Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within. It's very good and was recommended to me by my friend Kathleen Thompson (author of The Project-Driven Life: How To Figure Out What You Want To Be When You Grow Up).

Now Goldberg has published a new book of essays that looks interesting: The Great Spring: Writing, Zen and This Zigzag Life. In it, according to this piece, she credits Jack Kerouac as an influence on her writing:
Goldberg, author of “Writing Down the Bones” among other titles, offers meditations on her life as a writer, and the practice of seeing and hearing. In her introduction, she cites Zen teacher Katagiri Roshi and author Jack Kerouac as influences on her practice of writing.
I'm sure it's a worthwhile read and thus it's already on my Amazon Wishlist. Hint, hint....


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