Jump-start writing projects with this colorful card deck of engaging prompts. Whether retelling a familiar story from a different perspective, describing a scene without using adjectives, or writing a story in the style of Jane Austen, these exercises break down the process of writing into small, doable activities that are sometimes playful, sometimes challenging, but always enlightening. Color-coded by level of difficulty, The Writing Deck is an eminently useful tool for educators, workshops, and practitioners of all levels.

"Offers inspiration and practical advice from today's greatest writers ... secrets to approaching work with renewed creativity --Container.

For more than thirty years Natalie Goldberg has been challenging and cheering on writers with her books and workshops. In her groundbreaking first book, she brings together Zen meditation and writing in a new way. Writing practice, as she calls it, is no different from other forms of Zen practice—"it is backed by two thousand years of studying the mind." This thirtieth-anniversary edition includes new forewords by Julia Cameron and Bill Addison. It also includes a new preface in which Goldberg reflects on the enduring quality of the teachings here. She writes, "What have I learned about writing over these thirty years? I’ve written fourteen books, and it’s the practice here in Bones that is the foundation, sustaining and building my writing voice, that keeps me honest, teaches me how to endure the hard times and how to drop below discursive thinking, to taste the real meat of our minds and the life around us."

The national bestseller. Write. Burn. Repeat. Now with new covers to match whatever mood you’re in. "This book has made me laugh and cry, filled me with joy, and inspired me." -TikTok user camrynbanks Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat, TikTok, VSCO, YouTube...the world has not only become one giant feed, but also one giant confessional. Burn After Writing allows you to spend less time scrolling and more time self-reflecting. Through incisive questions and thought experiments, this journal helps you learn new things while letting others go. Imagine instead of publicly declaring your feelings for others, you privately declared your feelings for yourself? Help your heart by turning off the comments and muting the accounts that drive you into jealousy for a few moments a night. Whether you are going through the ups and downs of growing up, or know a few young people who are, you will flourish by finding free expression--even if through a few tears! Push your limits, reflect on your past, present, and future, and create a secret book that's about you, and just for you. This is not a diary, and there is no posting required. And when you're finished, toss it, hide it, or Burn After Writing.

One of the world's foremost writing teachers invites readers on a joyful journey into the reading and origins of haiku A haiku is three simple lines. But it is also, as Allen Ginsberg put it, three lines that "make the mind leap." A good one, he said, lets the mind experience "a small sensation of space which is nothing less than God." As many spiritual practices seek to do, the haiku's spare yet acute noticing of the immediate and often ordinary grounds the reader in the pure awareness of now. Natalie Goldberg is a delightfully companionable tour guide into this world. She highlights the history of the form, dating back to the seventeenth century; shows why masters such as Basho and Issa are so revered; discovers Chiyo-ni, an important woman haiku master; and provides insight into writing and reading haiku. A fellow seeker who travels to Japan to explore the birthplace of haiku, Goldberg revels in everything she encounters, including food and family, painting and fashion, frogs and ponds. She also experiences and allows readers to share in the spontaneous and profound moments of enlightenment and awakening that haiku promises.

This book has been traveling 25 years to get here ... and now it's here. And you have to say call it - is this the book that will win your heart? There are many stories in this book. It's vivid anthology of American fiction. These stories were gathered from a sharp eye, and ears cupped into the conservations of strangers. The things they said which stuck inside, only writing what really mattered in good storytelling. The Old Lady bestows the virtues of volunteerism on the readership, where the lead character devotes thirty-eight years into caring for war veterans at the Soldiers Home.The perpetual love between father and daughter, is told on the blue bed of the lake in the fishing story of May Rain. The crowning jewels of thematic patterning overshadowed the need for dialogue in Texas Hardpan, and the supernatural gift of Sanctifying Grace is bestowed on those crying hard on the sun cracked soil of Hillcrest Cemetery. Nick slashes up the lake ice with his much loved CCM hockey skates in Old Man Winter, and the desolation of wilderness heals the young man from the death of his girlfriend. Practicing Law is a parable told in Ireland, where a RUC constable by the name of Molly McGrath gets killed on the Foyle Bridge crossing by an IRA ambush, and some blood ends up across the ocean on the Queen's hands. Inside the smoke filled train station of When the Subject Matter Caught Up With Everything, and band of English majors from Princeton and Columbia recite the evolution of language when focus became fixed on the root syllables of Teutonic - syllables deprived of accents were weakened in pronunciation over time by slurring of sound together, and eventually the vowels and constant sounds became erased from frequency response; these inflected forms of words were allowed to flourish with new pronunciation, from the victories of marauding wars. Three oil men from Texas in the smoke filed train station, are virtually stunned at the brilliance of the college students. First Steps is a child's story, with the plot submerged towards mercy for the weak and defenseless. Pencil Box is spun in the heart of Central Park, where the readers can sit on the iconic green park bench inscribed - For All The Dreamers. Perhaps the most rousing tale in this book is Dolly Dagger, the suffering of Vietnam veteran Merle Long both from the fateful morning his Marine company got overrun by the 324th NVA Regiment, and the jeering Merle endured from our country on his crestfallen home coming ... missing parts of his body. This story is hailed for its authenticity from those who fought in the jungles of Vietnam, and will endure a staple of short war stories. These stories span our world. I hope you like some. The signature of storytelling is breathing characterization with unusual subject matter, and protagonists who bear very deep scars, both seen and unseen from the whipping posts of life. - author Stephen Deck