On Writing Down the Bones:

I'm not much into writing but there's this crazy idea in Writing Down the Bones and it's of extreme liberation. I always approach writing with strict spelling, grammar, punctuation, and structure rules established in my fingertips. But I have always embraced the idea of freedom and rebellion in particular. I follow rules and the establishment just like I'm supposed to, but I have to say that I hate every minute of it. Goldberg promotes the notion of a "no rules," chaotic approach to writing. In First Thoughts, Goldberg explains "the rules" (keep your hand moving, don't cross out, forget grammar/spelling/formality, don 't think, etc.) which are in fact almost the complete absence of rules.
Most of all, I like the idea of not crossing-out, no censorship. I always cross-out; it's a habit and it will be very hard to break. Even if I'm writing in pencil, I cross-out. But this idea that first thoughts possess so much power and truth intrigues me. I'm always brutally honest with myself, but I like to sugar-coat things for everyone else. Like telling my sister it's alright to have a baby on welfare and without a job or even a highschool diploma for fear I might hurt her feelings. That's NOT alright. But I'm supportive nonetheless.
Another idea taht I enjoyed very much was how Goldberg emphasizes that our writing is not us. She explains that you are always changing and a poem is just a single moment of your life amidst that change. I never thought of writing that way before. "The problem is we think we exist," but our words are never permanent, our feelings are never permanent. And if we are continuously changing, then the idea of our pen-and-paper-selves never really exists, we only feel that it exists.