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Meg Waite Clayton

New York Times Bestselling Author

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October 13, 2016 By Meg Waite Clayton

Wobbly Spelling

great-gatsby-early-draft
Handwritten Draft of The Great Gatsby

“My spelling is Wobbly. It’s good spelling but it Wobbles, and the letters get in the wrong places.” – Pooh Bear, from A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the Pooh

Like Pooh, my spelling is Wobbly. When I was a kid, every teacher I ever had urged me to write legibly and at the proper slant, and to pay more attention to my spelling. That may have been the beginning of thinking the one thing I was no good at was writing. To this day when I write by hand I turn the page beyond perpendicular just to get my letters upright. And yet…
There is something that a brain does differently with pen and paper than with keyboard and screen. It isn’t just mechanical.
When I’m into writing a scene or a chapter and the words are flowing, I tend to use the keyboard, because my typing can keep up with my brain in a way my handwriting cannot.
But when I’m brainstorming, or figuring, or hoping for that new idea, I inevitably do better my journal and a pen.
So today’s 1 Thing Thursday Writing Tip: Don’t forget the old fashioned way.
If you need a bit more convincing, here is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s handwritten opening of The Great Gatsby. Ernest Hemingway, too, started writing by hand, moving to a typewriter when the words were flowing.
Happy writing! – Meg
 

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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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