Thunder and Lightning
Cracking Open the Writer's Craft
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Narrated by:
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Natalie Goldberg
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By:
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Natalie Goldberg
About this listen
Join the best-selling author of Writing Down the Bones as she gives you a map for taking your best ideas and inspirations - your thunder and lightning - and turning them into finished stories, essays, and novels.
The challenge we face as writers, Natalie Goldberg says, begins with the process of turning inward and then trying to communicate what we find. From the secret of letting characters and stories "write themselves" to finding mentor sources and responding to criticism to writing's one essential ingredient, which is the mind - here are all-new Zen-based lessons and reflections, refined and proven at Natalie's acclaimed national writers' workshops.
For published authors as well as new writers just filling their first notebooks, Natalie's vision encompasses not only the nuts and bolts of clear and complete writing but also the force from which books manifest.
Download the accompanying reference guide.©2011 Natalie Goldberg (P)2016 Sounds TrueListeners also enjoyed...
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Candid, insightful, and powerful, Daring: My Passages is the story of the unconventional life of a writer who dared - to walk New York City streets with hookers and pimps to expose violent prostitution; to march with civil rights protesters in Northern Ireland as British paratroopers opened fire; to seek out Egypt's president Anwar Sadat when he was targeted for death after making peace with Israel.
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Enjoyed unexpectedly
- By Corinne O'Rourke on 09-06-23
By: Gail Sheehy
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The Possessed
- Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them
- By: Elif Batuman
- Narrated by: Elif Batuman
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Possessed we watch Elif Batuman investigate a possible murder at Tolstoy's ancestral estate. We go with her to Stanford, Switzerland, and St. Petersburg; retrace Pushkin's wanderings in the Caucasus; learn why Old Uzbek has 100 different words for crying; and see an 18th-century ice palace reconstructed on the Neva. Love and the novel, the individual in history, the existential plight of the graduate student: all find their places in The Possessed.
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Dear Russian Literary Diary...
- By Darwin8u on 08-29-17
By: Elif Batuman
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Where the Past Begins
- A Writer's Memoir
- By: Amy Tan
- Narrated by: Amy Tan
- Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Moving from her childhood in Oakland and growing up with her Chinese parents through her success as a novelist, Amy Tan delves into her creative interests in music, the paralysis of beginning a new project, journal writing, and travelling. Where the Past Begins chronicles the making of a writer. With characteristic humor and poignant observation, Tan weaves a nontraditional introspective narrative that is as complex and vibrant as this beloved American novelist's fiction.
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Narration Issues
- By Sara on 12-14-17
By: Amy Tan
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Greetings from Utopia Park
- Surviving a Transcendent Childhood
- By: Claire Hoffman
- Narrated by: Andi Arndt
- Length: 8 hrs and 1 min
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When Claire Hoffman's alcoholic father abandons his family, his desperate wife, Liz, tells five-year-old Claire and her seven-year-old brother, Stacey, that they are going to heaven - Iowa - to live in Maharishi's national headquarters for Heaven on Earth. For Claire's mother, Transcendental Meditation - the Maharishi's method of meditation and his approach to living the fullest possible life - was a salvo that promised world peace and enlightenment just as their family fell apart.
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Very good book
- By Amazon Customer on 06-15-16
By: Claire Hoffman
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Fairyland
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- By: Alysia Abbott
- Narrated by: Alysia Abbott
- Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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A beautiful, vibrant memoir about growing up motherless in 1970s and 80s San Francisco with an openly gay father. After his wife dies in a car accident, bisexual writer and activist Steve Abbott moves with his two-year-old daughter to San Francisco. There they discover a city in the midst of revolution, bustling with gay men in search of liberation - few of whom are raising a child. Steve throws himself into San Francisco's vibrant cultural scene.
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Great representation of the time
- By AvidReader22 on 06-07-19
By: Alysia Abbott
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10:04
- By: Ben Lerner
- Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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In the last year, the narrator of 10:04 has enjoyed unexpected literary success, has been diagnosed with a potentially fatal heart condition, and has been asked by his best friend to help her conceive a child, despite his dating a rising star in the visual arts. In a New York of increasingly frequent super storms and political unrest, he must reckon with his biological mortality, the possibility of a literary afterlife, and the prospect of (unconventional) fatherhood in a city that might soon be under water.
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A novel worth reading
- By Bradley Paul Valentine on 01-29-15
By: Ben Lerner
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Reading Like a Writer
- By: Francine Prose
- Narrated by: Nanette Savard
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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In her entertaining and edifying New York Times bestseller, acclaimed author Francine Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and the tricks of the masters and discover why their work has endured. Written with passion, humor, and wisdom, Reading Like a Writer will inspire listeners to return to literature with a fresh eye and an eager heart.
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Practical, literate, generous
- By Gare on 04-13-08
By: Francine Prose
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Whirligig
- By: Paul Fleischman
- Narrated by: Robert Field, Lily Christian, Alex Hauk, and others
- Length: 3 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Newbery Medal winner Paul Fleischman writes a profoundly moving story of connectedness and the journey of a young soul to self-discovery. Told through the voices of five characters and narrated by age-appropriate actors, Whirligig compels the listener with its lesson on how our actions can impact the lives of others - even years later. A stunningly authentic listening experience.
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Fabulous
- By Tim on 03-21-17
By: Paul Fleischman
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The Book of Help
- A Memoir in Remedies
- By: Megan Griswold
- Narrated by: Megan Griswold
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
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A hilarious and heartbreaking memoir-in-remedies by a self-described "professional soul-searcher" that details a journey of self-discovery through more than 160 tonics, seminars, regimens, and transformative therapies. With a voice that is at once intimate and hilarious, Megan captures the openness and honesty necessary for people to take a new path in life. Listeners will open the audiobook with curiosity about all the different healing therapies that Megan tries, but leave with a new understanding of themselves.
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Mr. Toad's Wild Ride has some serious competition!
- By Elisa R. Goodman on 02-15-19
By: Megan Griswold
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What listeners say about Thunder and Lightning
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- StoryDtechtive
- 02-11-17
Inspiring
Natalie Goldberg always gets me excited to come at my writing from different angles, try new things. I love her frankness and her persistence. Mostly, I love the fact that she has attempted to make writing a practice for reaching levels if higher mind. No matter what type if creative work we do, we have moments of reaching that zone where we seem to flow and do our best work. The struggle to get there is very real...but so rewarding. Keep going, Natalie. I have completely enjoyed your journey.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Beginagain
- 02-02-23
Extra stars for the ad libs!
Took the author’s workshop, book the book, read it but her audio is charming and drives home. Like the title—wet and flashing—raw and human. Grateful for author’s candor and big and humble mind.
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- Chad Arnold
- 03-22-21
Another great window into writing
Love Natalie and her perspective on writing. Her voice is soothing, patient, and expressive. Great tools. No shortcuts. Honest, deliberate and and comprehensive.
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- M. Samuelson
- 11-23-21
An Essential Guide to Writing Practice
Natalie Goldberg is the only author whose books I return to again and again. “Thunder and Lightning” offers an age- and practice-refined look at writing and writing practice. Her guidance in writing practice is essential for anyone looking to start or continue writing seriously.
In between listenings to this audiobook, I also reread “Writing Down The Bones” (for the third time). Between the fresh view and refined view of writing, I found my own path to writing practice. Reading/listening to Goldberg’s work never ceases to help me swat away my monkey mind and get down to writing.
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1 person found this helpful
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- JK
- 09-20-22
Unique
I am not a frustrated unpublished writer. Unfortunately, almost all books on writing, if not memoirs like Stephen King's excellent book, are formulaic-type things aimed at luring in these frustrated writers in to learn secrets and practices to get their works done and published. Not Goldberg. Like in "Writing Down The Bones", Ms. Goldberg hits the practice as pleasure in its own. This appeals to me, as it did when I first read "Bones" in the mid eighties. She's such a treasure, and unlike so many writers, she's a great reader!
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1 person found this helpful
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- The Taylor’s
- 02-04-23
Natalie in so inspiring!
After listening to Writing Down the Bones, I continued on to this book. Just excellent and she continues to let you know it’s ok to write how you write!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-16-18
I’m in love!
I felt this book gave me such fiver for life as well as writing. I’m so glad this is part of my writing practice. I wish this was taught in all schools.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 07-24-20
The depth of writer's mind
Loved it. Not a "how to" book but one on Writer's mind. No short cuts, "Take the long cut" she says. Writing practice is writing freely with no restrictions a recommended 2 yrs to train your awareness of details, of monkey mind, of opening up, of finding your voice into Writer's mind. Writer's Mind, Zen Mind. Authentic and vulnerable, the courageous Natalie Goldberg opens up her mind and heart to the reader/listener.
I also loved her comments, updates and insights while reading to us a book she wrote years earlier.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Angela Kukhahn Yoga
- 01-07-21
I love Natalie Goldberg
I could listen to Natalie talk about anything and plan to listen to all of her books! This book is no exception! Highly recommend!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Morgan
- 06-16-23
Fun and insightful
Thunder and Lightning may not give you all the answers on writing, but it might just point you in the direction to start looking for yourself.
loved it!
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