I needed to slow down and quiet down deeply into a lot of these questions, yet at the same time what I was looking for, and continue to, is a way to have this exist within a regular, normal, modern life. Dani Shapiro More Quotes by Dani Shapiro More Quotes From Dani Shapiro We are tyrannized by our options. Dani Shapiro There’s a great expression in Twelve Step programs: Act as if. Act as if you’re a writer. Sit down and begin. Act as if you might just create something beautiful, and by beautiful I mean something authentic and universal. Don’t wait for anybody to tell you it’s okay. Take that shimmer and show us our humanity. That’s your job. Dani Shapiro beautiful jobs mean As writers, it is our job not only to imagine, but to witness. Dani Shapiro witness imagine jobs Music inspires me and puts me in the right mood, but to actually listen to it when I write - I find it gets in the way. Dani Shapiro writing inspire way I do strongly identify with being Jewish. I was raised Orthodox and had a childhood complicated by the fact that my father was deeply religious and my mother was not. Dani Shapiro religious mother father When I sit down with my notebook, when I start scribbling words across the page, I find out what I’m feeling. Dani Shapiro notebook pages feelings Our pain is a part of who we authentically are. Dani Shapiro pain Our minds have a tendency to wander. To duck and feint and keep us at a slight remove from the moment at hand. Dani Shapiro ducks mind hands In my life as a wife and mother, I'm always conscious of my desire to be present. Dani Shapiro wife mother desire It's essential to have sacred time for writing. All successful authors have some daily commitment to keep on-track and moving forward. Dani Shapiro writing commitment moving Let 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 Shapiro sick color grace Traces that live within us often lead us to our stories Dani Shapiro stories I've always felt like my nose is pressed to glass. I always feel a little bit like an outsider. Dani Shapiro glasses noses littles Strange - I'm not much of a film person. I love watching films, but they don't stay with me the way books do. Stranger still, because my husband is a screenwriter! Dani Shapiro husband book way In every generation there is a vault-keeper, one who guards the links fiercely and knows they are more precious than rubies. Dani Shapiro generations rubies links Maggie Shipstead takes hold of the reader and doesn't let go. Astonish Me is a haunting, powerful novel. Dani Shapiro haunting powerful letting-go I think there's something about a writer's disposition, that is, even if unaware, always slightly in a witness state. Dani Shapiro disposition states thinking Michael Lowenthal has written a big-hearted and wise book about familial love in all its richness and complexity. Dani Shapiro bigs wise book I’ve discovered that my best work comes from the uncomfortable but fruitful feeling of not having a clue – of being worried, secretly afraid, even convinced that I’m on the wrong track. Dani Shapiro clue track feelings If I waited to be in the mood to write, I'd barely have a chapbook of material to my name. Who would ever be in the mood to write? Do marathon runners get in the mood to run? Do teachers wake up with the urge to lecture? I don't know, but I doubt it. My guess is that it's the very act that is generative. The doing of the thing that makes possible the desire for it. Dani Shapiro writing running teacher
