Walking on Alligators: A Book of
Meditations for Writers by Susan
Shaughnessy
A Must For Every Writer
For Walking on Alligators Susan Shaughnessy culled quotations from
nearly 200 writers and other creative people--Ethan Canin, Art
Spiegelman, Robin Williams, and Camille Paglia among them--that can
help jumpstart the creative process. Each quotation leads to a short
meditation on its subject, which in turn leads to a kind of vow the reader
can internalize and act upon: Today, Ill look over the key setbacks of my
life. Are some ready to contribute comic color to my writing?; Today, Ill
take a look at the high road. I will write a little better and a little differently.
I will stretch. These tender morsels are best taken like vitamins: one a
day. They will encourage, inspire, amuse, and provoke, but mostly they will
make you start writing. After all, warns Shaughnessy in the introduction,
The writing you dont do today is lost forever.
Personal Review: Walking on Alligators: A Book of Meditations
for Writers by Susan Shaughnessy
Susan Shaughnessy began her writing career as a copywriter and editor.
She has written two novels, magazine and newsletter articles, speeches,
songs, and advertising copy. In Walking on Alligators, Shaughnessy
gathers the thoughts of many authors and combines them with stimulating
essays as "a daily motivator for people who write and people who long to
write."
The author cautions that writing is about today--not procrastination, but
writing every single day. She sees her book as a daily companion for the
writer. Quick to point out that the book was not intended as a quick read,
Shaughnessy offers "200 thought-and pen provoking essays exploring
every aspect of the practice and process of writing."
Within these 200 pages, Toni Morrison, Camille Paglia, Diane Ackerman,
Anne Rice, Scott Turow, Jane Smiley, Erica Jong, Eudora Welty, and
many others are quoted on the subject of writing and creativity. Each quote
is followed by a short essay by Shaughnessy and a challenge/affirmation
to help the reader reach his or her writing goals.
The profound messages of these daily meditations spark me to aim higher
and push farther in my daily attempts at the writing life. Each essay spoke

to me in a deeply personal way. Every time I thought one surely was the
best of the bunch, another one jumped off the page and danced through
my inner core.
A couple of my many favorites appear on a page that I have dog-eared in
this handy little paperback:
"When the stuff in life gets really rough, I would just die if I was not writing
a novel. Once you think it up, it's like a whole other city with a little door
and every time you sit down to write you just open the door and there you
are--a wonderful vacation for two hours." --Lee Smith
"Today, I'll try a new attitude toward my writing. I'll view it as a vacation
from life. I'll see how that feels." --Susan Shaughnessy
This particular page holds a profound truth that resonates deep within my
writer-self. I have affirmed this same thought pattern time and time again.
Even now, as I recouperate from surgery for recurrent malignant
melanoma, I tell my friends and family that my daily writing is my lifeline as
the challenges of life swirl frenetically around me.
Each takes only a few minutes to read. But when read with purpose, these
daily meditations and essays linger in your mind and in your writer's soul
all day, every day. Just like the drive to write daily that comes from
spending time with Shaughnessy's encouraging book.
You can approach this book day by day in numerical sequence, or you
may choose to open it at random to see what message awaits you on any
given day. Either way, you are sure to find good company in what is
otherwise a lonely path for many--the writing path. Tuck this little book
someplace handy, and it is sure to become a cherished writing companion.
One more favorite...
"Today I will have the courage to go wherever my writing wants to lead me.
I will not judge as I write. I will write, and write as honestly as I can."
--Susan Shaughnessy
Grab your copy of Walking on Alligators, your pen and paper (or your
laptop), step into your special writing place and begin to exercise that
courage to go wherever your writing leads!
by Lee Ambrose
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
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