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In my opinion, trying to guess what readers want is the wrong approach. You have to tell your story as best you can and as true to yourself as possible. You have to be honest and fair and vulnerable and foolish and brave, and not care what anyone thinks of it.

Jeannette Walls

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Jeannette Walls
Age: 64
Born: 1960
Born: April 21
Journalist
Writer
Phoenix
Arizona
Best
Possible
Fair
Writing
Anyone
Thinks
Trying
Wrong
Brave
Thinking
Story
Guess
Tell
Reader
Readers
True
Approach
Vulnerable
Stories
Honest
Foolish
Care
Opinion
Fairs

More quotes by Jeannette Walls

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No child is born a delinquent. They only became that way if nobody loved them when they were kids. Unloved children grow up to be serial murderers or alcoholics.
Jeannette Walls
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Don't you make fun of me or my children! Some babies are premature. Mine were all postmature. That's why they're so smart. Their brains had longer to develop.
Jeannette Walls
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Fussing over children who cry only encourages them. That's positive reinforcement for negative behavior.
Jeannette Walls
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Whenever I'm reading a book I enjoy, I always develop a mental list of the people I want to share it with.
Jeannette Walls
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Unlike diamonds, watches were practical. They were for people on the run, people with appointments to keep and schedules to meet.
Jeannette Walls
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Life is a drama full of tragedy and comedy. You should learn to enjoy the comic episodes a little more.
Jeannette Walls
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One thing about whoring: It put a chicken on the table.
Jeannette Walls
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Interesting people always have a past.
Jeannette Walls
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Whoever coined the phrase 'a man's got to play the hand that was dealt him' was most certainly one piss-poor bluffer.
Jeannette Walls
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But the positive thoughts would give way to negative thoughts, and the negative thoughts seemed to swoop into her mind the way a big flock of black crows takes over the landscape, sitting thick in the trees and on the fence rails and lawns, staring at you in ominous silence.
Jeannette Walls
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But no matter how much planning you do, one tiny miscalculation, one moment of distraction, can end it all in an instant.
Jeannette Walls
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You have to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that.
Jeannette Walls
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I hadn’t been paying much attention to things like the sunrise, but that old sun had been coming up anyway. It didn’t really care how I felt, it was going to rise and set regardless of whether I noticed it, and if I was going to enjoy it, that was up to me.
Jeannette Walls
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Don't worry, God understands,' Mom said. 'He knows that your father is a cross we must bear.
Jeannette Walls
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I reached my full height at age 11, and I was clumsy as all get-out - all elbows and knees, couldn't get up a flight of stairs without falling down. I wanted to be a cute, petite blonde, but I'm a big ol' strapping thing, so I just accept it.
Jeannette Walls
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When someone's wounded, the first order of business is to stop the bleeding. You can figure out later how best to help them heal.
Jeannette Walls
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....he said it was interesting. He used the word 'textured'. He said 'smooth' is boring but 'textured' was interesting, and the scar meant that I was stronger than whatever had tried to hurt me.
Jeannette Walls
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My older sister achieved her dream of being an artist. She's an illustrator living in Manhattan.
Jeannette Walls
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Mom always said people worried too much about their children. Suffering when you are young is good for you, she said. It immunized your body and your soul.
Jeannette Walls
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Everything in life is gray, you know.
Jeannette Walls