Everything I know about life I learned from the daily practice of sitting down to write. Dani Shapiro More Quotes by Dani Shapiro More Quotes From Dani Shapiro I remember getting my first cell phone in New York, getting into a taxi and thinking "This is the end of solitude in the back of a taxi." What used to happen in the back of a taxi? You looked out the window. My brain has become less able to spend lengths of time without shifting, and I worry about that. Dani Shapiro phonesnew-yorkthinking Our minds simply don't function in some sort of narrative chronology. I think that one of the great gifts of writing fiction is being able to think about that. Dani Shapiro mindwritingthinking Moving to the country has been incredibly good for my work, for my sense of perspective. Dani Shapiro perspectivecountrymoving I'm most connected to myself when I'm alone in a room, moving my hand across a page. That's when I feel most like me. Dani Shapiro pageshandsmoving We don't ruminate during a fight. Maybe in a bath, or driving a car, or as we take a walk. But not right smack in the middle of a dramatic moment. Dani Shapiro bathscarfighting I found myself doing so much public speaking, more and more and bigger and bigger. Dani Shapiro public-speakingbiggerfound If there's anything weirder than an introverted writer going to lots of social functions, it's an introverted writer being converted into an accidental guru. Dani Shapiro functiongurusocial When a writer's whole being is poured into a piece of work, there is never enough. The feeling of finally getting to the end of a piece of work, of making it as good as you can at that moment, is more of a relief than anything else, and then you wait for reviews. Dani Shapiro reliefwaitingfeelings I do keep a tiny little journal in which I write passages that I read and want to hold on to. This practice is sort of the opposite of Twitter. Dani Shapiro practiceoppositeswriting My journals were a clearing house - a garbage can. Once I was writing seriously, I understood that this was the stuff that didn't belong in my work. Dani Shapiro garbage-canshousewriting When I was growing up, I had no idea that I could possibly become a writer. I wrote endlessly in journals - a practice I maintained for a long time, well into the writing life I had no idea I could ever have. Dani Shapiro growing-uppracticewriting You have to believe in yourself before the world has given you any indication that you should believe in yourself as a writer. Dani Shapiro shouldbelieveworld I often envy my friends who are visual artists. Visual artists have other things to work with. Other media. I envy my sculptor friends: they have hunks of matter. Marble. Wood. It's physical, which I find very appealing. What we have is nothing, is just glaringly blank. Dani Shapiro envymediaartist I'll have my students try to follow their minds during the course of a day, just to see the way their minds work, the way our minds hop from thing to thing to thing. The Internet mirrors that to such a degree you can actually see it. Show me your search history and I'll show you who you are. Dani Shapiro mirrorsmindtrying Part of my spiritual work is learning to live with the knowledge that we can't protect our loved ones from pain and heartache. Dani Shapiro heartachepainspiritual This may be a little bit of a provocative thing to say, but the memoirist doesn't owe the reader anything other than a good story and the inclining of the mind in the direction of memory. Of course, the memoirist is not allowed to make things up. But the really skilled memoirist knows what to leave in and what to leave out to serve the story. In autobiography you can't do that. Dani Shapiro storiesmindmemories There's something about urban life - you walk out your door, and you're in a steady of stream of life happening around you, and it's very easy to get caught up in that stream and simply kind of keep on moving. Dani Shapiro urbandoorsmoving The fact is that most husbands, regardless of religion - it's an old-fashioned gender divide where the husband wants to stay home and the wife is the one who drags herself and her children to whatever spiritual center they're going to. Dani Shapiro husbandspiritualchildren We can't protect ourselves from pain and heartache. In fact, to love - fully, madly, deeply - is the ensure heartache some day. Dani Shapiro heartachepainfacts Open your hearts. Deep inside ourselves, we are all one and the same. Dani Shapiro open-your-heartdeep-insideheart
