As a writer we are our own instruments; we need to protect our instrument, because no one will protect it if we… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
If you write memoir, it can't be about blame or hurt; it has to be creative. — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
When it comes to the personal essays I write, I just convince myself that no one will ever read them. — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
Everything you need to know about life can be learned from a genuine and ongoing attempt to write — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
Music inspires me and puts me in the right mood, but to actually listen to it when I write - I find… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
I never feel so alive as when I'm writing and the work is going well. — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
Everything I know about life I learned from the daily practice of sitting down to write. — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
I do whatever is necessary in order to maintain the equanimity we all need to withstand the disappointment and rejection that are… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
As a fiction writer, that's been a preoccupation of mine: Can you really just close the door and leave the past back… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
When I was writing my first novel, I smoked cigarettes. And when I think about what it was like to smoke, I… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
There are books that a writer undertakes because she wants to go on a journey, and there are journeys a writer undertakes… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
The Internet and all its lures are much, much harder than anything I've ever encountered. If you're writing on a computer, the… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
I don't think it's possible to separate out the strands of a writer's history, circumstances, life events, and that writer's themes. — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
There's a danger in romanticizing what it means to be a writer. Because what it really means is hard, hard work. It… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
My journals were a clearing house - a garbage can. Once I was writing seriously, I understood that this was the stuff… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
Writing well involves walking the path of most resistance. Sitting still, being patient, allowing the lunatic dream to take shape on the… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
“Write the words "The FIve Senses" on an index card and tack it to a bulletin board above your desk. You should… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
There's nothing confessional about crafting and shaping a story out of a lived life. In fact, it's quite the opposite - the… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
If I waited to be in the mood to write, I'd barely have a chapbook of material to my name. Who would… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
I was in my early thirties writing about my early twenties, so there was this way of seeing my younger self from… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
With tremendous clarity and wisdom, Daniel Tomasulo has crafted a memoir at once heartbreaking and uplifting. Layers of time and memory—childhood, adolescence,… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
“I can tell you that the writing of a book, no matter how deeply, profoundly personal-if it is literature, if you have… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
The writing life requires courage, patience, persistence, empathy, openness, and the ability to deal with rejection. It requires the willingness to be… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
A writer with her work needs to be like a dog with a bone all the time. She needs to know where… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
“Still writing?" I usually nod and smile, then quickly change the subject. But here is what I would like to put down… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
“When writers who are just starting out ask me when it gets easier, my answer is never. It never gets easier. I… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
How do we live the writer's life? There's only one simple answer: 'we write.' — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
I knew I wanted to be a writer before I knew that being a writer was possible. — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
With each book you write you have to learn how to write that book - so every time, you have to start… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
I think there's something about a writer's disposition, that is, even if unaware, always slightly in a witness state. — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
I do keep a tiny little journal in which I write passages that I read and want to hold on to. This… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
If there's anything weirder than an introverted writer going to lots of social functions, it's an introverted writer being converted into an… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
Novels are my favorite to write and read. I do like writing personal essays, too. I'm not really a short story writer,… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
If you are a writer or any kind of artist, if you change something as fundamental as where you live - the… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
I'm a full-time writer, which means I have the entire day to get my work done. But that can also be bad,… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
“The writer’s life requires courage, patience, empathy, openness. It requires the ability to be alone with oneself. Gentle with oneself. To be… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
“I believe that we don't choose our stories," she began, leaning forward. "Our stories choose us." She paused and took a sip… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
When I was starting out there was no Internet, there wasn't this sense that you could be connected to other writers around… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share Image
“The writer’s life requires courage, patience, empathy, openness. It requires the ability to be alone with oneself. Gentle with oneself. To be disciplined, and… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share
I never troll for material. It simply presents itself, and is always unmistakable. This is why I want to roll my eyes when people… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share
I had never really felt settled in Brooklyn. I think it had to do with growing up in New Jersey and being someone who… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share
When I near the end of a book, it feels as if the entire universe meets me more than halfway and supports me. The… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share
Everything you need to know about life can be learned from a genuine and ongoing attempt to write — Dani Shapiro Copy Share
Everything changes. The more I try to hold on to the moment, the more it slips through my fingers. — Dani Shapiro Copy Share
There is no end to the promotion. There is no end to the possibilities. You can continue to promote a book for years, literally. — Dani Shapiro Copy Share
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… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share
“Oh, child! Somewhere inside you, your future has already unfurled like one of those coiled-up party streamers, once shiny, shaken loose, floating gracefully for… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share
I do strongly identify with being Jewish. I was raised Orthodox and had a childhood complicated by the fact that my father was deeply… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share
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… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share
Novels are my favorite to write and read. I do like writing personal essays, too. I'm not really a short story writer, nor do… — Dani Shapiro Copy Share
