Walking on Alligators: A Book of Meditations for Writers
ForWalking on AlligatorsSusan 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: &quot;Today, I'll look over the key setbacks  of my life. Are some ready to contribute comic color to my writing?&quot;;  &quot;Today, I'll take a look at the high road. I will write a little better and a little  differently. I will stretch.&quot; 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, &quot;The writing you  don't do today is lost forever.&quot;