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Meg Waite Clayton

Author of the international bestsellers The Postmistress of Paris, The Last Train to London, and 6 other novels

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May 31, 2012 By Meg Waite Clayton

Toni Morrison on Making Time to Write, among Other Things


President Obama, in presenting the Medal of Freedom to Toni Morrison on Tuesday, remarked that as a single mother she

would carve out a little time in the evening to write, often with her two sons pulling on her hair and tugging at her earrings. Once, a baby spit up on her tablet so she wrote around it.

I loved that image of a child’s spit up on the tablet – and remember it myself. No doubt I love it because it is so personally familiar.
But it provoked me to want to explore the wisdom of Toni Morrison on the subject of writing. In reading, I came up with the following, which I thought I’d share:

  • “If there’s a book you really want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”
  • “I think some aspects of writing can be taught. Obviously, you can’t teach vision or talent. But you can help with comfort.”
  •  I never asked Tolstoy to write for me, a little colored girl in Lorain, Ohio. I never asked Joyce not to mention Catholicism or the world of Dublin. Never. And I don’t know why I should be asked to explain your life to you … It is that business of being universal, a word hopelessly stripped of meaning for me … If I tried to write a universal novel, it would be water.
  • We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.

And my personal favorites:

From Song of Solomon:

  • “You wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.”

And from Beloved (my favorite Morrison book):

  • “You are your best thing.”

I hope they inspire you as you start your writing today. They certainly inspire me. – Meg

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Meg Waite Clayton


Meg Waite Clayton is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of eight novels, including the Good Morning America Buzz pick and New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice THE POSTMISTRESS OF PARIS, the National Jewish Book Award finalist THE LAST TRAIN TO LONDON, 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. Her novels have been published in 23 languages. She has also written more than 100 pieces for major newspapers, magazines, and public radio, mentors in the OpEd Project, and is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the California bar. megwaiteclayton.com

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