A writer with her work needs to be like a dog with a bone all the time. She needs to know where she's hidden it. Where she's stored the good stuff. She needs to keep gnawing at it, even after all the meat seems to be gone. When a student of mine says (okay, whines) that she's impatient, or tired, or the worst: isn't it good enough? this may be harsh, but she loses just a little bit of my respect. Because there is no room for impatience, or exhaustion, or self-satisfaction, or laziness. All of these really mean, simply, that the inner censor has won the day.
Dani ShapiroI don't know why this is, but I really believe that things don't happen when we're trying to will them into being. They don't happen when we're waiting for the phone to ring, or the email to pop up in our in box. They don't happen when we're gripping too tightly. They happen - if they happen at all - when we've fully let go of the results. And, perhaps, when we're ready.
Dani ShapiroLet me tell you something about hypochondria: It's a pernicious, undermining little demon. It won't kill you, but it will sap the color from your life so that in the loveliest moments, the moments of grace, you are hit with that whisper in your ear that takes it all away. I'm sick, I'm dying - I just don't know it yet.
Dani ShapiroEverything you need to know about life can be learned from a genuine and ongoing attempt to write
Dani ShapiroIn every generation there is a vault-keeper, one who guards the links fiercely and knows they are more precious than rubies.
Dani ShapiroThereโs a great expression in Twelve Step programs: Act as if. Act as if youโre a writer. Sit down and begin. Act as if you might just create something beautiful, and by beautiful I mean something authentic and universal. Donโt wait for anybody to tell you itโs okay. Take that shimmer and show us our humanity. Thatโs your job.
Dani Shapiro