News From the Author

Dani Shapiro wrote recently in the LA Times: “Writing itself, if not misunderstood and abused, becomes a way of empowering the writing self. It converts anger and disappointment into deliberate and durable aggression, the writer’s main source of energy.”

Her point is the old adage, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Writing is hard work. And the payoff is personal satisfaction, not money. Creating something of lasting value means that you’ve added to the world, not just taken. As writers, writing teachers and mentors we need to convey this message in everything we do. Like anything and everything else–relationships, legal careers, gardening, or child rearing–enjoy the process, and don’t rely on ’success’ in the eyes of others or the money rewards as the raison d’etre. With cancer treatments behind me for now and two novels from small press, fifteen years of writing stories for lit journals, I’ve learned that Shapiro knows whereof she speaks. Perseverance, production, and patience.