'You don't have to get it right the first time'

 

“The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to getit right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon. You can always do itbetter, find the exact word, the apt phrase, the leaping simile.” – Robert Cormier

 

Bornin Massachusetts in 1925, Cormier was known for his brilliantly crafted yetoftentimes downbeat literature. His most popular works continue to resonatewith his mostly Young Adult audience 15 years after his death.  I AmThe Cheese, After the First Death, We All Fall Down and The Chocolate War all won major awards,and I Am The Cheese is considered oneof the best Young Adult novels of the past 80 years.

 

Cormierbegan his professional writing career scripting radio commercials and went onto become an award-winning journalist and novelist.   In hislifetime (he died in 2000) he wrote 18 bestselling novels and countless shortstories.   Six of his books were madeinto movies.

 

Cormieralways kept the Young Adult audience and his local Massachusetts newspaper, theFitchburg Sentinel, at the forefrontof his writing efforts saying that writers should remember their roots.

“I simply write with an intelligentreader in mind,” he once said.  “I don'tthink about how old they are or where they might live.  And all the stories I'll ever need are righthere on Main Street.”  

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