Author Dani Shapiro (who has been a huge mentor for me, and probably one of the best teachers I’ve ever studied with) has a fantastic essay in today’s LA Times, talking about how to edure as a writer today. She starts off by quoting legendary editor & founder of New American Review, Ted Solotaroff:
“Solotaroff wondered where all the talented young writers he had known or published when he was first editing New American Review had gone. Only a few had flourished. Some, he speculated, had ended up teaching, publishing occasionally in small journals. But most had just . . . given up. “It doesn’t appear to be a matter of talent itself,” he wrote. “Some of the most natural writers, the ones who seemed to shake their prose or poetry out of their sleeves, are among the disappeared. As far as I can tell, the decisive factor is what I call endurability: that is, the ability to deal effectively with uncertainty, rejection, and disappointment, from within as well as from without.”
I can’t help but feel this is the answer to many things–how do you keep going with any new project? It’s all about quieting that voice inside that says you will fail. This article gave me heart today. Go here to read the rest , and be sure to pick up Dani’s wonderful new memoir, Devotion.