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Meg Waite Clayton

New York Times Bestselling Author

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March 8, 2010 By Meg Waite Clayton

Rules for Writers (from Some Amazing Ones)

I just came across the most wonderful “Rules for Writing” series at the guardian.co.uk site, thanks to a mention of it in yesterday’s NYTBR’s “Inside the List”. On the site, many truly extraordinary writers of all sorts list their “10 Rules for Writers.” I haven’t had a chance to peruse them all yet, but some early contenders for my favorites:
“6 Hold the reader’s attention. (This is likely to work better if you can hold your own.) But you don’t know who the reader is, so it’s like shooting fish with a slingshot in the dark.” – Margaret Atwood (who has a number of marvelously funny ones – no surprise!)
“1 The first 12 years are the worst.” – Anne Enright
and
“7 Keep a light, hopeful heart. But ­expect the worst.” – Joyce Carol Oates
So I’m heading out to write now with a light, hopeful heart – and very low expectations. Which is a pretty nice, unintimidating way to approach the blank page. – Meg

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Filed Under: Meg's Posts, Writing Quotes and Other Literary Fun Tagged With: Anne Enright, Joyce Carol Oates, rules for writing, writing tips

Meg Waite Clayton

Meg Waite Clayton is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of THE LAST TRAIN TO LONDON, a Jewish Book Award finalist based on the true story of the Kindertransport rescue of ten thousand children from Nazi-occupied Europe—and one brave woman who helped them escape. Her six prior novels include the Langum-Prize honored The Race for Paris and The Wednesday Sisters, one of Entertainment Weekly's 25 Essential Best Friend Novels of all time. A graduate of the University of Michigan and its law school, she has also written for the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Forbes, Runners World, and public radio, often on the subject of the particular challenges women face. megwaiteclayton.com

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