Dani Shapiro
Dani Shapiro
Daneile Joyce "Dani" Shapiro is the author of five novels and the best-selling memoirs Slow Motion and Devotion. She has also written for magazines such as The New Yorker, The Oprah Magazine, Vogue, and ELLE...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth10 April 1962
CountryUnited States of America
hands ducks mind
Our minds have a tendency to wander. To duck and feint and keep us at a slight remove from the moment at hand.
running teacher writing
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.
track feelings clue
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.
eye writing people
I never troll for material. It simply presents itself, and is always unmistakable. This is why I want to roll my eyes when people interrupt themselves in the middle of some story they're telling me to say, "You know you can't write about this."
wise book bigs
Michael Lowenthal has written a big-hearted and wise book about familial love in all its richness and complexity.
letting-go powerful haunting
Maggie Shipstead takes hold of the reader and doesn't let go. Astonish Me is a haunting, powerful novel.
rubies links vaults
In every generation there is a vault-keeper, one who guards the links fiercely and knows they are more precious than rubies.
meditation hours
At some point each day (well, most days) I unroll my mat and practice for an hour. I sit in meditation for a while. This can be five minutes or twenty minutes, but the daily practice - simply showing up for it - is centering.
husband book way
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!
stories
Traces that live within us often lead us to our stories
moving commitment writing
It's essential to have sacred time for writing. All successful authors have some daily commitment to keep on-track and moving forward.
pain
Our pain is a part of who we authentically are.
beach rose wish
My desk is covered with talismans: pieces of rose quartz, wishing stones from a favorite beach.
disappointment order careers
I do whatever is necessary in order to maintain the equanimity we all need to withstand the disappointment and rejection that are the lot of every writer, no matter where we are in our careers.