曾有位編劇朋友當面跟我說：我看過你公眾號寫的東西，在我們專業(yè)人士看來就是垃圾，你不會真覺得你寫得還不錯吧？
被人說這樣評價，第一感覺臉上火辣辣的。第二反應是從他的角度看確實有道理——我的文字全是大白話，句法不規(guī)范，常有語病，選題和立意也不講究。出于禮貌，我說你說的對。
然后心理默念一句「去你媽的」。
什么是寫得好？寫作的意義是什么？
寫作是主動面對、暴露自己，能公開分享自己的文字本身就已經(jīng)很勇敢。8 年來我用文字記錄學習和生活，想得更清楚，活得更自由，從寫作中收獲了極大的快樂。
話雖如此，把我的「記錄」稱為「寫作」，我還是會有恥感。雖然一直在寫東西，也出過書，但我總覺得自己寫的東西拿不出手——不過是一些碎碎念、小聰明。
最近讀了本經(jīng)典寫作指南，Natalia Goldberg 的 Writing Down the Bones。在書中我找到了鼓勵和信心。
作者 Natalie 從小是「應試作文」高手，她知道老師們喜歡什么樣的文章。她熱愛文學，飽肚詩書，但對寫作心存敬畏，覺得那些文學創(chuàng)作只可遠觀不可褻玩。大學畢業(yè)后她和朋友一起開了個飯館，偶然機會她讀到一首烹煮茄子的小詩，她驚奇不已：這也能寫成詩？日常生活也值得書寫？
A synapse connected in my brain. I went home with the resolve to write what I knew and to trust my own thoughts and feelings and to not look outside myself. I was not in school anymore: I could say what I wanted.
從此她開始寫作。后來還成了「寫作教練」，在全美巡回教授寫作課程。寫作讓她找到自己，也能夠超越自己，她說：Wtiting is my deepest Zen practice.
這本 Writing Down the Bones 不是講「英文寫作」技巧，而是講通用的寫作理念。表面是寫作秘笈，實際是修行指南。它讓我一下想到村上春樹的 What I Talk About When I Talk About Running、Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi 的 Flow 和 Eckhart Tolle 的 The Power of Now。全書風格是隨筆，獨立成章，每章只有 2-3 頁，很好讀。
This book is about writing. It is also about using writing as your practice, as a way to help you penetrate your life and become sane. What is said here about writing can be applied to running, painting, anything you love and have chosen to work within your life.
閱讀中，每隔幾頁我就被鼓勵到，恨不得能跟作者一個擁抱。
比如：
- If you are not afraid of the voices inside you, you will not fear the critics outside you.
- Allow yourself to be awkward. You are stripping yourself. You are exposing your life, not how your ego would like to see you represented, but how you are as a human being. And it is because of this that I think writing is religious. It splits you open and softens your heart toward the homely world.
- Writing is 100% listening. You listen so deeply to the space around you that it fills you, and when you write, it pours out of you. if you can capture that reality around you, your writing needs nothing else.
- Writers live twice. They go along with their regular life, are as fas as anyone in the grocery store, crossing the street, getting dressed for work in the morning. But there's another part of them that they have been training. The one that lives every second at a time. That sits down and sees their life again and goes over it. Looks at the texture and details.
讀完這幾句節(jié)選，有沒有想立刻寫點什么的沖動？
作者自己是過來人，深知寫作之難。她沒有高談闊論，而是給我們一些小建議和提醒，鼓勵我們用寫作記錄、表達感受，用寫作修行。
以下是我印象深刻的幾處，也分享給你。
1.
Learning to write is not a linear process. There is no logical A-to-B-to-C way to become a good writer. One neat truth about writing cannot answer it all. There are many truths.
寫作要反復推敲，也要想到什么就寫什么；寫作需要安靜，也需要走出門外在嘈雜中碼字。不同做法有不同目的，本質(zhì)上并無對錯。
學英語也是如此，市面上有無數(shù)學習方法，不需要糾結對錯。別死心眼，別做任何人的腦殘粉。感興趣就去試一試，方法是死的，人是活的。
2.
- Lose control. Don’t think, don’t get logical. Go for the jugular.
寫作需要主動「失控」，接受胡思亂想，不知道該寫什么那就把腦中出現(xiàn)的一切先寫下來。
給自己設定時間（比如 5-10 分鐘），然后不停地寫——不想措辭、不用檢查、無需注意標點/拼寫/語法。這時你會覺得心煩意亂、思緒完千，沒關系，寫下去。別想著什么金句、內(nèi)容有多少價值、有多少人閱讀。這不是這個階段該操心的事。只有主動 lose control 我們才能開始寫作，這個道理放在生活中也適用：
To be alive, we have to deal with a loss of control. Falling in love is a loss of control. When we die or someone we love dies, it's a tremendous loss of control. And what's nice about writing practice is it's a measured way to dip yourself into that huge vast emptiness, that loss of control, and then pull yourself out so you can feel safe again.
3.
- When you write, don’t say, “I’m going to write a poem.” That attitude will freeze you right away. Sit down with the least expectation of yourself; say, “I’m free to write the worst junk in the world.” You have to give yourself the space to write a lot without a destination.
別急。降低期待，把寫作當修行。寫作需要必要時間和練習，別指望自己一開始就能「寫好」。寫多了自然會有進步，在沒有足夠的大量練習前，別用不切實際的標準讓自己難受。
你總說自己英語不好，仔細算算你在英語這件事上具體花了多長功夫？總說自己寫作不好，朋友圈都算上，這個月一共寫了多少字？
所有的借口都是沒那么在乎。《月亮與六便士》中 Charles Strickland 說「我必須畫畫就像溺水的人必須掙扎」，如果真的想做一件事，攔不住的。也別拿天賦說事，作者說她就沒什么天賦，我們能做的事用努力解鎖自己的各種潛能——“It’s pretty nice to be talented. If you are, enjoy, but it won’t take you that far. Work takes you a lot further.”
從這個角度看，最重要的并不是寫出什么作品，而是訓練過程。贏得了天下又如何？有多少人靠抄襲、洗稿獲得了名利，那又如何？
One of the main aims in writing practice is to learn to trust your own mind and body; to grow patient and nonaggressive... One poem or story doesn’t matter one way or the other. It’s the process of writing and life that matters.
4. We are not the poem.
寫作的自由來自專注此刻的感受，而不是總想著「希望在別人眼中呈現(xiàn)的樣子」。
我們寫下的內(nèi)容也只是那一刻的自己，別怕「黑歷史」和「打臉」，那都是我們有過的樣子，但不要讓它們定義自己。
5. Say yes to life. Caress the divine details.
最近我喜歡上攝影，讀到這一段感同身受。
寫作可以讓我們換一個角度看世界，把細節(jié)放大，讓時光倒流。如果我們停下來觀察這個世界，會發(fā)現(xiàn)再熟悉的場景也有迷人的細節(jié)。當我們感到無聊，試著用寫作觀察這份無聊——別記著貼標簽、劃分界限，say yes，感受每一個環(huán)境和情緒。
Give me your morning. Breakfast, waking up, walking to the bus stop. Be as specific as possible. Slow down in your mind and go over the details of the morning.
以上就是我的幾點書摘和心得。這本書是我 3 月讀書里最愛的一本，它帶給了我無限溫暖和鼓勵，希望它也能幫到你。
Writing is everything, unconditional. There is no separation between writing, life, and the mind.
不需要任何人認可，不需要公開發(fā)表過詩歌小說。你我生來就是 writer。開始寫作吧。生命如此值得記錄，我們可以更自由。Say yes to life and free the writer within.
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