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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is libel?
(a) It is the liberty within us all.
(b) What you can sue the papers for and get lots of money.
(c) Making untrue accusations.
(d) Defamation by written or printed word.

2. What is publication like for Anne?
(a) A joyous event and all her self-doubt is erased.
(b) Her phone rings off the hook with friends and publishers calling her.
(c) It is really uneventful, no one notices or comments.
(d) The last few weeks of pregnancy and the first day of seventh-day PE class.

3. Where has Anne found some of the best letter writing?
(a) Letters from people in World War One.
(b) Letters from children detailing an event in their childhood.
(c) Letters from people wanting to tell their children about their childhoods.
(d) Letters written by people in love.

4. What does the fourteenth Dalai Lama claim to be his religion?
(a) Moral position.
(b) Good ethics.
(c) Buddhism.
(d) Kindness.

5. Besides calling around, what is another way to escape the isolation of writing?
(a) Employing a good therapist.
(b) Joining a meditation group.
(c) Taking a dancing class.
(d) Joining a writing class.

6. What does Anne consider a most depressing experience?
(a) Writer's block.
(b) Editors not liking your work.
(c) Having so much material you can not write fast enough.
(d) Jealousy.

7. What does Ms. Allende's writing style offer to the reader?
(a) A sense of being understood.
(b) Nourishment of the imagination and wonder.
(c) A headache.
(d) Sharp turns and suspenseful drama.

8. What Sharon Olds poem does Anne pass out at every class?
(a) I Go Back to May 1937.
(b) The Winds Carried Me.
(c) I Write.
(d) Footprints.

9. What did Anne have after a full day of calling around?
(a) A description of vineyards.
(b) Nothing, no one had any material for her that was useful.
(c) A description of chardonnay wine.
(d) A description of how to train grapevines.

10. What does Anne suggest feedback from someone close to you yields?
(a) Confidence and time to improve the work.
(b) A headache and ulcer.
(c) Mindless suggestions and a loss of friends.
(d) Better plots and newer characters.

11. Why does Anne say we are to tell the truth and write in our own voice?
(a) Because it says so in the writer's manual.
(b) You do not want a libel suit on your hands.
(c) Because it is our nature.
(d) If you write using someone elses voice, they will be jealous.

12. What does Anne suggest you do when your mind starts to wander again and again?
(a) Take another nap.
(b) Call a friend again.
(c) Blast heavy-metal music again.
(d) Gently bring your mind back to your work.

13. What other writing skill did Anne use to write her letter to Sam?
(a) School lunches.
(b) Jealousy.
(c) One-inch picture frame.
(d) Calling around.

14. When you are stuck in your writing, but you can not leave it alone, what is something Anne suggests to try?
(a) Writing part of a character's history in a one-inch picture frame.
(b) Write the same word over and over, noticing every letter and the sound it makes.
(c) Go ahead and take a break, make a phone call.
(d) Writing part of a character's history in the form of a letter.

15. Why does Anne state that writing matters?
(a) To heal the writer and get published.
(b) Only to heal the writer.
(c) Because you can affect the heart and spirit of the reader.
(d) Because you can get published.

Short Answer Questions

1. Anne does not agree with the word "block," which suggests something is constipated or stuck. How does she describe 'writer's block'?

2. According to Anne, what should our stories encompass?

3. What is Henry James' classic line about a writer looking for his glasses which were atop his head?

4. What kind of feedback do the two people that read Anne's drafts give her?

5. Anne has written two books and a short story as presents. Who were they for?

(see the answer keys)

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