I always tell people that I became a writer not because I went to school but because my mother took me to the library. I wanted to become a writer so I could see my name in the card catalog. Sandra Cisneros More Quotes by Sandra Cisneros More Quotes From Sandra Cisneros The older I get, the more I'm conscious of ways very small things can make a change in the world. Tiny little things, but the world is made up of tiny matters, isn't it? Sandra Cisneros matter littles world Every book changes my writing because I'm always trying to do something I didn't do before. I try to do what's hard for me, what I haven't done in the past. Sandra Cisneros writing book past When I was a child, I was very shy, and there's still a part of me that's very shy. Sandra Cisneros shy stills children All of my works are performance pieces, as is true for many writers of color, writers who have indigenous roots - because our basis is spoken word. Sandra Cisneros pieces color roots The only reason we write - well, the only reason why I write; maybe I shouldn't generalize - is so that I can find out something about myself. Writers have this narcissistic obsession about how we got to be who we are. I have to understand my ancestors - my father, his mother and her mother - to understand who I am. It all leads back to the narcissistic pleasure of discovering yourself. Sandra Cisneros mother writing father Heartbreak allows us to also experience joy and love but you have to walk through heartbreak to even know what joy is. Heartbreak is a constant and it is even necessary. It allows us the opportunity of introspection and exploration. Those processes are what is necessary to write and engage in the arts. Sandra Cisneros writing opportunity art Your prospective employer, or the person you have a crush on, or the person you want to talk to. You're judging yourself, you know, thinking about your listener. You're not thinking about what you're saying. And that same thing happens when you write. Sandra Cisneros thinking-about-you crush writing There are many Latino writers as talented as I am, but because we are published through small presses, our books don't count. We are still the illegal aliens of the literary world. Sandra Cisneros aliens book world Write about what makes you different. Sandra Cisneros different inspiration writing Like all guests, after a fortnight, grief is best beyond the door. Sandra Cisneros guests grief doors Maybe all pain in the world requires poetry. Sandra Cisneros pain world I began writing as an experimental writer. Sandra Cisneros writing I'm most tired after I read, after I've just done a performance, but what I try to do is to fuel and eat a really healthy meal before I perform. I want to have enough energy to talk to that last person. Sandra Cisneros tired healthy trying If you just breathe, and go slower, you will have enough energy. It's really important because there are people who wait in line, and your work has changed their lives. You will need to listen to them because they are also going to feed you and give you confirmation of the prayer you asked before you spoke. Sandra Cisneros prayer giving people As Indigenous peoples, we know there is more to the world. We know spirits exist. We know as women, because we're especially attuned to this kind of knowledge, that spirits exist and have a presence in our lives. Some of us are gifted and can communicate with the spirit world. Not everyone has that gift and can perceive the borders between the living and the dead and our society actively discourages us of exploring the knowledge of what many of us have already always known in our cultures. Sandra Cisneros borders culture world My feminism is humanism, with the weakest being those who I represent, and that includes many beings and life forms, including some men. Sandra Cisneros feminism feminist men I usually say Latina, Mexican-American or American Mexican, and in certain contexts, Chicana, depending on whether my audience understands the term or not. Sandra Cisneros latina mexican certain Before you speak, get very quiet, do the meditation, say, "Use me as a channel for what needs to get said to this community. This community needs to hear something very important that I'm the only person in the room who can say it. Please help open me so that I'm not frightened and speak through me. Let me be that channel so that I can help heal." You make yourself so humble that you really are like a flute and that music that comes out comes from el corazón. All the people you're connected to from that light that we call love. Sandra Cisneros light humble people [Courage] always bigger than what you think you can handle, but you're never going to be given something you can't handle. So you say, "Okay, when you tell me what it is that I'm supposed to do, please give me the courage to do it." Sandra Cisneros bigger giving thinking I feel comfortable in Spanish, I chat like a parrot, but I don't have the confidence in Spanish that I do in English. Sandra Cisneros parrots comfortable feels
