--- title: Dani Shapiro: Writing as Protest description: Find out how author Dani Shapiro uses writing to protest against despair in challenging times. canonical: https://time.com/4696609/dani-shapiro-writing-as-protest/ author: Dani Shapiro article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-09T15:02:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:05:08.086Z og:title: You Don't Have to Protest to Make a Difference in Challenging Times og:description: Doing what you do best is a form of resistance og:url: https://time.com/4696609/dani-shapiro-writing-as-protest/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt617bfee586421ad4/6988bdb44dd2155c7cefe11b/dani-shapiro-writing-as-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Demonstrators Attend A Day Without A Woman General Strike og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: You Don't Have to Protest to Make a Difference in Challenging Times twitter:description: Doing what you do best is a form of resistance twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt617bfee586421ad4/6988bdb44dd2155c7cefe11b/dani-shapiro-writing-as-protest.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # You Don't Have to Protest to Make a Difference in Challenging Times by [Dani Shapiro](https://time.com/author/dani-shapiro/) ## Dani Shapiro Mar 9, 2017 3:02 PM UTC  A demonstrator holds a sign while protesting during the Day Without a Woman strike at Washington Square Park in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, March 8, 2017\. Some women stayed home from work, joined rallies or wore red to demonstrate their economic clout Wednesday in the U.S. as part of International Women's Day events held around the globe. The Day Without a Woman protest was put together by organizers of the vast women's marches that drew more than 1 million Americans into the streets the day after President Donald Trump's inauguration. Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images A demonstrator holds a sign while protesting during the Day Without a Woman strike at Washington Square Park in New York, U.S., on Wednesday, March 8, 2017\. Some women stayed home from work, joined rallies or wore red to demonstrate their economic clout Wednesday in the U.S. as part of International Women's Day events held around the globe. The Day Without a Woman protest was put together by organizers of the vast women's marches that drew more than 1 million Americans into the streets the day after President Donald Trump's inauguration. Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesBloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Dani Shapiro](https://time.com/author/dani-shapiro/) ## Dani Shapiro Mar 9, 2017 3:02 PM UTC I am an [artist](http://motto.time.com/4214244/business-success-andy-warhol/) — a writer of nine books — which means that I spend my days alone in a room making things that the world has not asked for. In the best of times, the endeavor feels borderline futile. Who’s going to care? Why does it matter? What difference can my tiny little words possibly make? But in recent months ([since Nov. 8](http://motto.time.com/4643178/stacey-griffith-soulcycle-what-to-do-about-trump/), to be precise), this feeling has grown exponentially in me and in just about everyone I know. We wake up in the morning, and with our eyes half open, we peer at our screens at the news of the day. And the [news of the day](http://motto.time.com/4686987/muslim-americans-support-transgender-rights-grimm-travel-ban/) is relentless, dark, worrisome, grim. Before we’ve even brushed our teeth, we’re wondering if the world — or at least the world as we know it — is ending. Because I teach writing as well as practice it, I’ve had to figure out some answers to these questions. My students look to me to tell them why what they do is still meaningful during these chaotic times. And I tell them what I first learned about succumbing to despair a long time ago: When my son, who is now a gorgeous, brilliant 17-year-old, was an infant, he almost died. He had a rare disease that kills most babies who contract it. In the year during which my husband and I spent every waking moment trying to save his life, I was unable to write. I would climb the stairs to my office and stare at the walls, wondering why I had ever done something as stupid and ridiculous as to become a _novelist._ I should have gone to medical school. Or nursing school. Or whatever school where they invent medicine that saves babies’ lives. I should have done something that _mattered._ But slowly, surely, as my baby miraculously recovered, I began to see the value in what I had to offer: language. I wrote a novel about a terribly anxious mother, and then moved on to other books, other work. I used what I had at my disposal — the tools in my toolbox, sharpened over a lifetime — to chisel out something that might matter. I was a writer, so I wrote. [_Follow Motto on Facebook_](https://www.facebook.com/mottoworkplaylive/)_._ You might be a lawyer, a chef, a student or a bartender. You might be studying fashion or mechanics or journalism. You might be married, having babies, single, straight, gay or trans. You might live in the city, the suburbs, the rural countryside. Wherever and whoever you are, you might be finding yourself at loose ends after you — after we all — begin each day staring at the disaster that unfurls on our Twitter feeds. But the only response — the largest, most large-hearted and ultimately most effective response — is to get on with our days. To use the tools we have. Which is not to say that I am not filled to the brim with a sense of moral outrage. I’m doing what I do best, as we all must. This is another kind of protest, another way of refusing to succumb to despair. We sit down to write, to paint, to teach, to make a Béchamel sauce, to draw up a contract, to make a pattern, to bring our whole selves to our work and to those we love. We ignore the inner voice telling us that there’s no point, that what we have to offer doesn’t matter. It matters more than ever. _Dani Shapiro is the author of nine books. Her latest memoir_ Hourglass_, comes out April 11._ _MOTTO hosts provocative voices and influencers from various spheres. We welcome outside contributions. 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