Emily St. John Mandel: belief

Transcript context

…How has that shaped your writing and your thinking? In a couple of ways. One way is that dance requires the most incredible discipline, and I think that that’s helpful for writing. Actually, it would be helpful for anything. It probably would make you a more disciplined attorney if you’ve been a dancer first. It’s just pretty hardcore. It’s also, to be honest, a much harder career than writing, and I think that’s pretty good. There are difficult moments as a writer, but at the same time, what I find myself thinking is, “My worst day writing, or the terrible review, or whatever it is I’m dealing with — that’s still better than a dance audition.” Never again, hopefully, will I be in a room with 200 other women competing for one job, wearing skintight clothes with a number pinned to my chest. That’s dehumanizing. Yeah, it’s helpful to writing in that contrast. I think everything you do after dance probably seems a little bit easier. How impressive do you think is your own level of discipline and conscientiousness?…

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