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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
Writing
Anyone
Thinks
Trying
Wrong
Brave
Thinking
Story
Guess
Tell
Reader
Readers
True
Approach
Vulnerable
Stories
Honest
Foolish
Care
Opinion
Fairs
Best
Possible
Fair

More quotes by Jeannette Walls

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That was the thing to remember about all monsters, They love to frighten people, but the minute you stare them down, they turn tail and run.
Jeannette Walls
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You'll never make a fortune working for the boss man.
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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It's really not that hard to put food on the table if that's what you decide to do.
Jeannette Walls
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We laughed about all the kids who believed in the Santa Clause myth and got nothing but a bunch of cheap plastic toys. 'Years from now, when all the junk they got is broken and long forgotten,' Dad said, ' you'll still have your stars.
Jeannette Walls
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If you don't think you're hurt, then you aren't
Jeannette Walls
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Too much hard luck can create a permanent meanness of spirit in any creature.
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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You should never hate anyone, even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them. You have to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that.
Jeannette Walls
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The dangerous falls were the ones that happened so fast you didn't have time to react
Jeannette Walls
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Mom could say that in hindsight, but it seemed to me that when you were in the middle of something, it was awful hard to figure out what part of it was God's will and what wasn't.
Jeannette Walls
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You can't cling to the side your whole life, that one lesson every parent needs to teach a child is If you don't want to sink, you better figure out how to swim
Jeannette Walls
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I wanted to let the world know that no one had a perfect life, that even the people who seemed to have it all had their secrets.
Jeannette Walls
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My life is not just about the past.
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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You West Virginia girls are one tough breed, he said. You got that right, I told him.
Jeannette Walls
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Living there [Horse Mesa] was like living in a natural cathedral. Waking up every morning, you walked outside and looked down at the blue lake, then up at the sandstone cliffs--those awe-inspiring layers of red and yellow rock shaped over the millennia, with dozens of black-streaked crevices that temporarily became waterfalls after rainstorms.
Jeannette Walls
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Mom also hinted a couple of times that it was good I was going to college, since with one failed marriage behind me, I 'd have trouble landing a good husband and would need something to fall back on. A package that's been opened once doesn't have the same appeal.
Jeannette Walls
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I'm a big believer in luck - the harder you work, the luckier you become.
Jeannette Walls
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I found out that people are incredibly compassionate and kind. It really changed my view of the world.
Jeannette Walls