people who are not afraid

Trust Your Instincts

"The most important thing I've learned is to trust my instincts.  My professor Kathryn Harrison had this interesting way of putting it, that it's like walking a tightrope, and you're doing it but, the minute you start having doubts or second-guessing yourself—that's when you start to lose your balance.  It took me a while to get to a place where I finally did trust my instincts, and it was very liberating.  From then on, I felt more confident to take risks in the writing and break the rules, if you will."

trust that your output

protecting yourself from feeling

Cast Off the Fear

"Cast off the fear.  I was terrified about writing stories about where I came from because I was embarrassed.  Truly great writers are not afraid to bare their souls.  Sometimes you may feel like: 'I shouldn't have put that in there, I don't want people to think it's about me or look at me differently.'  Toss those thoughts aside.  That's a mental block.  Don't think about it.  Just do it.  As long as you write from a place of purity, and it comes from your heart, you can't go wrong."

You need courage

"You're going to be, and probably always have been, led to avert your eyes. But turning from that path is what it means to be an artist. You need courage, and that's something I can't teach you. I can teach you that you've got to have it."